Nineteen foreigners were arrested yesterday following the discovery of 36 pounds of cannabis on a vessel at the Guyana National Industrial Company Incorporated (GNIC) wharf at Lombard Street, Georgetown.
The cannabis which carries a street value of $14M was unearthed during an operation by ranks of the Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU).
In a press statement yesterday, CANU said the officers attached to the Special Operations section conducted a search on the vessel during which several parcels suspected to be cannabis were discovered.
The parcels along with the crew members were taken to the CANU Head-quarters where the narcotics was tested and confirmed to be a foreign type of marijuana known as “creepy”.
It was weighed and amounted to 16.046 kilogrammes.
The vessel, CANU said is foreign registered and was scheduled to leave Port Georgetown yesterday morning with a quantity of cement.
“If this narcotic had reached its intended destination, its street value would have been much higher,” the agency said.
According to the statement, the operation was part of CANU’s multi-agency and multi-national investigation which is aimed at dismantling a regional network involved in the movement of narcotics from Guyana using cargo vessels.
