– container seals to be checked after Guadeloupe intransit

THE Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) is on the hunt for local shipper, Marlon Primo, in connection with the largest ever cocaine bust made in Belgium on a shipment of scrap metal which left Guyana’s shores in September.

It was also discovered that the ship stopped in Guadeloupe for a few days before making its journey to Belgium, and so CANU is now examining whether the shipping container had the same seals it left Guyana with after it passed through Guadeloupe.
The Sunday Chronicle understands that the containers left Guyana in September and were discharged while in transit at Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe, where they remained until October 3. The vessel subsequently travelled to Belgium where they arrived on October 15.

Head of CANU, James Singh, when contacted, confirmed that the container left Guyana on September 25 and was opened on October 27 in Belgium.
He also confirmed that Marlon Primo, who is the shipper, is being sought while others are being brought in for questioning as the investigations continue.
Primo is the brother of local singing sensation, Jomo ‘Rubber Waist’ Primo. Primo is said to be the principal in a company called MA Trading, located at Atlantic Ville, East Coast Demerara.
MA Trading is the company that shipped the containers. The 23,000 lbs of cocaine were neatly packed in a safe inside the container which was then covered with the scrap metal.
The United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and Belgian authorities are collaborating on the cocaine bust.

Counter-narcotics prosecutors said they had tracked the trans-atlantic journey of 11.5-tonnes of cocaine from Guyana, on the northeastern coast of South America, and seized it upon its arrival at the Port of Antwerp.

The catch is “the largest overseas drug bust ever, worldwide,” federal prosecutors told Belgian media, estimating the street value of the drug load at €900 million.
Three police officers, a port manager and a lawyer were among some 20 arrested as part of the operation targeting the “well-structured” criminal organisation suspected of orchestrating large and “regular” drug shipments from South America to Belgium.