POLICE and Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit officers were still trying late Tuesday afternoon to determine the quantity of cocaine which was found stashed in bags of coal in a 40ft container destined for the United States.The Guyana Chronicle has been informed that Linden businessman, 56-year-old Colin Clyde Prestod, has since been arrested and was up to that evening assisting the police in their investigations.

It was disclosed that the coal was being shipped by him after he had supervised its packing into the container at a location at Sliver Hill, along the Soesdyke-Linden Highway on Monday. The man is said to be an exporter.
According to information reaching the Guyana Chronicle, the police acted on information received, and they informed their counterparts at CANU. As the container was being passed through the container scanner at a city wharf, it was discovered that there were foreign objects inside the bags of charcoal, and the container was immediately taken off the scanner, opened and a search of the bags conducted.
It was there that the ranks unearthed the cocaine stashed among the coal. The container was packed with 1,400 bags of coal. The discovery was made at approximately 11:30 hrs on Monday. The bags of coal were the only items in the container.
Sources close to the investigation have stated that the cocaine is said to be worth millions and as soon as the total amount is removed from among the bags of coal it would be weighed, tested and the street value determined.
Over the past years, there have been numerous drug busts locally where persons attempted to get the illegal substance out of Guyana via a variety of means, including vegetables, ceramic items and having smugglers ingest the susbstance.
Those efforts have in most cases fallen through largely because of the methods employed by the Ministry of Home Affairs with assistance from the United States and other agencies in the supply of modern equipment and training of ranks. (Leroy Smith)