The Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) is awaiting additional information from its counterpart in Jamaica regarding the recent interception of 306 pounds of cocaine found concealed in two containers earlier this week.
Head of CANU James Singh, in an invited comment, yesterday told Stabroek News that as the probe continues, the brokers of the shipment are being questioned.
At this point, Singh said it is unclear how the cocaine made it out of the country since the contaminated containers were scanned before departure and should have been detected at that point.
One of the contaminated containers contained rice while the other had logs. The container loaded with rice was destined for Haiti and the one with the logs was intended for China.
Singh explained that the container with the rice was loaded on the wharf.
“There is nothing to indicate that the drugs was put into the containers before they were sealed,” he said.
Singh noted that among the information which CANU is awaiting from Jamaica is whether the seals of the containers were tampered with.
CANU, in a press statement, had said that the investigation confirmed that both contaminated containers left a city wharf in Georgetown, Guyana.
The agency said that investigations revealed that security checks were done by personnel of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) prior to the departure of the shipment and it is suspected that the containers may have been contaminated after those security checks were done.
On Tuesday, law enforcement officials in Jamaica announced that they had unearthed over 100 packages containing more than 300 pounds of cocaine in containers which were shipped from Guyana at the Kingston Freeport Terminal Limited (KFTL).
The Jamaica Observer newspaper reported that the drug was found in two of six containers that arrived on the island from Guyana en route to Haiti and China.
The report said that while searching the containers, Narcotics Police accompanied by members of the Jamaica Customs Contraband Enforcement Team found a total of 122 packages (110 in one and 12 in another), each with a compressed white substance resembling cocaine.
The total weight of the drugs is approximately 139.4 kilograms and the estimated street value is US$6.59 million.
The interception was the third international drug bust in recent times linked to Guyana.
