Following the recent discovery in the Netherlands of over 1,000 pounds of cocaine in a container of rum from Guyana, the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) has said “rigid” controls are in place to prevent the exports of narcotics through Guyana’s ports.
In a statement, the GRA noted that the consignment, which originated in Guyana, was scanned in Guyana according to the stipulated procedures, and no contraband or prohibited/restricted substances were detected among the said cargo when scanned. It said the consignment was shipped to the Netherlands and transited to another Caribbean territory, where it was offloaded and remained for a period before it was loaded onto another vessel destined for the Netherlands, where the discovery was made.
Against this background, the GRA said through joint enforcement and intelligence activities with CANU (Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit) and other local and foreign law enforcement bodies have put in place a system of rigid controls thereby reducing the probability of narcotic substances being exported or transshipped through Guyana’s ports. “This process allows for simultaneous viewing of the scanned images by officers of the sister agencies, and backup checks thereafter prior to shipping,” it added.
The GRA further said such images are stored and backed up at various sites, thereby reducing the likelihood of a repeat of the deletion of images as occurred in connection with a previous case where cocaine was found in a shipment that originated from Guyana.
