Two men are in police custody after being busted by the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) on Saturday with unknown quantities of pellets in their stomachs.The duo, a St. Lucian national and a Guyanese were both outgoing passengers. The St. Lucian national was reportedly heading to London from Guyana. The man is currently a patient at a local hospital where he is in the process of excreting the pellets.
The Guyanese national was heading to New York; he too has a quantity of pellets in his stomach. He has since been admitted to a city hospital for treatment. CANU’s head James Singh told the Guyana Chronicle that the recent busts at the CJIA is a collaborative effort among CANU, CJIA security and the police. “Any success at the airport is always a collaborative effort,” Singh said.
Asked whether he believes that persons are resorting to swallowing pellets as a result of the rigidness of the security at the airport, Singh said, “This is merely trafficking. It is not something new…they are swallowers.” The rigidness of the security at CJIA he stressed is as a result of “great collaboration”.
Singh said too that there will always be those traffickers who pass through the system but the fact remains that more busts are being made locally. “We have several joint operations,” he added.
Last week, a Guyanese hairdresser Shureen Giddings was busted at the John F. Kennedy (JFK) airport, New York with 105 cocaine pellets in her stomach. The woman was intercepted shortly after arriving at the JFK on a flight from Guyana. Two St. Lucian women were also caught at CJIA with cocaine in the shape of dildos lodged in their vaginas. The duo has pleaded guilty and has been sentenced to prison.