Yet again, Guyana has been implicated in a major international transshipment of cocaine.
This time a whopping 11.5 tonnes intercepted by the Belgian authorities this month at the port of Antwerp amid scrap metal. Yet again, as has been the pattern over the last two decades, it appears that no-one will be held accountable here for the shipment. The police and the Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU) are fairly adept at apprehending small-scale drug enterprises but have failed at these large-scale cocaine operations which appear to radiate with impunity from these shores even with the presence of the US Drug Enforcement Administration.
Container with 11.5 tons of cocaine was shipped from Guyana – GRA’s scan data erased.
Is the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) corrupt?
Of grave concern is the fact that the container scanning operations at the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) have been compromised. Five containers were scanned on the day in question but images were available from only four. Images for the fifth, the container suspected to have transported the cocaine, have disappeared and cannot be retrieved to date. They appear to have been deliberately deleted as they would have exposed likely incriminating actions by GRA employees.
It appears that the compromising of the scanner also occurred with an earlier container shipment of rice in which cocaine was found at the German port of Hamburg in August. CANU says the same tampering occurred with images and the same personnel were said to have been involved. A renewed investigation has now been launched into the rice shipment.
If 11.5 tonnes of cocaine was at any time present on these shores and then repacked into a container which was then exported under the nose of the various law enforcement agencies it underlines again the major problem that the country has faced and continues to face in relation to the drug trade. How could such a massive transshipment operation have occurred without the police or CANU being tipped off by their sources? An operation of this scale would have involved a significant number of persons and complex logistics.
How did the shipment enter this country and where from? Guyana is not a producer of cocaine. Did the cocaine come by air or ship? Either way it would have had to elude the various law enforcement arms. To add insult to injury, the shipment then successfully made its way out of Port Georgetown and evaded any alarum until the Belgian authorities intercepted it.
The investigation of the 11.5-tonne shipment of cocaine confirms that there has been no appreciable improvement in counter-narcotics operations and given that PPP/C administrations have not had a good record in this area President Ali and Minister Benn have their work cut out for them.
Comments
The never ending stories of narcotics shipments to Europe originating in Guyana is a scandal and is damaging the reputation of Guyana abroad. The Ali administration has been essentially mute and is keeping a low profile. This is a bad strategy, which only will raise suspicions about collusion of the government with the drug traffickers. It should be first priority of the Ali administration to drain the swamp of drug traffickers and their enablers in Guyana. You can have lofty plans of business development, but who wants do invest in a country gaining the reputation of a narco state?
When the PPP was government from 2001 to 2010, we suffered the worst crime wave which involved assassinations of Ministers, murders and hits of businessmen suspected of exporting narcotics and a turf war that got Roger Khan persecuted for conspiracy to smuggle into the USA.
This doesn’t bode well for Freddie Kissoon who defends this level of corruption.
“Guyana is not a producer of cocaine.”
Pradoville does get it processed like visa though. 11.5 tons of de white powder. One gram alone does sell in America, England or Canada for US$50 on the streets. Plenty money.
Better check who magically turn into a hotel investor and planning to build another mega high rise hotel in de city.
Granger wouldn’t have encouraged this level of corruption with narcotics. The new “elected by the people” government back at the narco state again. I wonder if we’ll be reliving the crime wave of the early 2000s again?
I have not comparison to the past, but just judging from reading the Guyanese news outlets there are people being killed everyday. It’s either the result of a robbery and domestic violence towards women. Just horrible and I do not see any initiatives of the new government of curb violence.
The oil isn’t helping anyone one bit. Life is easy to be taken away in the 3rd world.
Dennis, the investments in the oil industry will bring profound change and hopefully more jobs for Guyanese. This will help to bring down unemployment and also crime. If you have a job, you do not need to burglarise the grandmother across the street.