As the probe continues locally, following the discovery of over three tons of cocaine on two vessels, one in Ireland and another in Spain, the Head of the Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU), James Singh says that the owner of one vessel is cooperating with the local authorities and has given a statement, while the other vessel never docked here.
The vessels he was referring to are the bulk cargo vessel, “MV Matthew”, which was caught by Irish authorities with some 2.2 tons of cocaine, and the fishing vessel “Mathieu”, which was found with one ton of cocaine by Spanish authorities.
“Yes, the owner of ‘Mathieu’ gave a statement and is cooperating with CANU… the vessel ‘Matthew’ never came to Guyana, it only sailed within our waters in its journey to Ireland. It never docked in Guyana, there are no links between this vessel and Guyana. ‘Matthew’, which was held in Ireland never docked in Guyana. It was in our international waters,” Singh said when Stabroek News contacted him on the status of the investigation. Stabroek News over the weekend broke the news that four Guyanese and two Albanians were arrested after they were found on a Guyanese-registered boat containing one ton of cocaine, prompting local authorities to launch an investigation in Guyana