-Jagdeo blames non-functioning scanners for $222B Belgian cocaine bust
At a press conference on Friday, Vice President Bharrat Jadgeo said that it is possible that the “largest overseas drug bust ever” of cocaine coming from Guyana seized by Belgian police could have slipped past Guyana’s ports due to non-functioning scanners.
According to federal prosecutors, the street value of the drug is estimated at €900 million or approximately GYD $222 billion. The Vice President told reporters that, based on his understanding, it is likely that the shipment left Guyana in August 2020. He said that the issue of non-working scanners has been affecting work ay Guyana’s seaports for some time and his Administration recently received a donation of new scanners from China which he hopes will remedy the situation.
“One of the assessments done…is the scanners. The scanners at the wharf were not functioning for a long time. I think we got a donation from China now two, in a matter of maybe a month ago or so, are now located there. So, the scanners were not functioning. I don’t know how many other shipments went through and were never intercepted. But we’re glad that it’s intercepted and we will go after all those people. Go back and find all of those people who were involved,” he said.
Other media houses have reported that the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) has arrested two persons locally in relation to the shipment. It is only recently that Guyana has taken the spotlight again for the transshipment of cocaine.
Prior to this, in August 2020, customs officials in the Port of Hamburg — Germany’s largest seaport — reported one of the port’s largest drug busts after some 47 large packages of cocaine were found hidden between sacks of rice coming from Guyana. Following an investigation, CANU contented that it found no evidence to suggest that the cocaine discovered in Germany came from Guyana.
However, Thursday’s announcement of the 11.5 tons of cocaine from Guyana seized by the Belgian police took many by surprise as Federal Prosecutors said to Belgian media: “[This is] the largest overseas drug bust ever, worldwide.”
Vice President Jagdeo assured the media that all is being done to facilitate cooperation between local and international police as the investigation continues.
“We’ve met with all the agencies, including the US and the DEA [Drug Enforcement Administration]; we’re working closely with the DEA to ensure that any transshipment of drugs through Guyana, any transshipment…we want to catch,” Jagdeo said. “It seems as though there was heavy local involvement and we intend to get to the bottom of it.”
