–as probe intensifies into Belgium cocaine ‘bust’
THE Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) on Tuesday obtained an extension from the court to further detain two Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) officers, as law enforcement officers continue their probe into Belgium’s seizure of 11.5 tonnes of cocaine.
Other suspects in the matter have been released on bail, and are required to keep in contact with investigators.
Their arrest comes after it was discovered that the scanned images of the containers that were taken at the Georgetown city’s port were deleted and have not yet been recovered, as the technical issues are still being addressed, one investigator has confirmed.
Four containers reportedly left Guyana on September 25, and were shipped by Marlon Primo’s MA Trading, of Atlantic Ville, East Coast Demerara, to the consignee, Lotraco Recycling BV, in the Netherlands.
Primo is suspected to have fled to neighbouring Suriname.
Reports indicate that three of those containers were scanned, but the images were later deleted.
Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn has since expressed alarm at the size of the ‘bust’, and the fact that the shipment was able to pass undetected through Guyana’s surveillance systems.
“We are extremely alarmed at the shipment; the fact that it managed to escape, or was allowed to pass through the surveillance system, in terms of container scanners, container checks and all those things in relation to the matter,” he said.
The Guyana Chronicle has been reliably informed that CANU will be offering Primo protection and security, since he has expressed fear for his safety.
It was also discovered that the ship carrying the container had stopped in Guadeloupe for a few days, before making the onward journey to Belgium, and so CANU is now trying to ascertain whether the seals on the container are the same ones it left Guyana with.
The 11.5 tonnes of cocaine were neatly packed in a safe inside the container, which was then covered with scrap metal.
The United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and Belgian authorities are collaborating on the find.
Counter-narcotics prosecutors say they had tracked the trans-Atlantic journey of the cocaine from Guyana, on the north-eastern coast of South America, and seized it upon its arrival at the Belgian port of entry in Antwerp.
The catch is “the largest overseas drug bust ever, worldwide,” federal prosecutors are quoted as telling the Belgian media, and that the estimated street value of the drug load is €900 million.
Three police officers, a port manager, and a lawyer were among some 20 persons ho have been 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.
