–during police intelligence-led operation  

TWO Guyana Defence Force (GDF) ranks in uniform were intercepted and nabbed with 316 lbs of narcotics during another successful intelligence-led Police operation by Special Branch and other ranks.

Around 21:20 hrs on Saturday, acting on information received, ranks from Special Branch and other ranks went to Mandela Avenue, in the vicinity of Space Gym (behind the botanical garden), where they intercepted a Route 42 motor bus (#BTT 27), which was proceeding south along Mandela Avenue.

The bus is owned and was driven at the time by Edward Mc Calmont, a 40-year-old Corporal of the Guyana Defence Force, attached to Camp Ayanganna and a resident of Kaneville, East Bank Demerara (EBD).

Another GDF rank, John Johnson, a 24-year-old Lance Corporal attached to Base Camp Stephenson and a resident of Timehri, EBD, was sitting in the front passenger seat.

They were both fully dressed in their uniform. Police informed them as to why they were stopped based on intel (information received) that they were trafficking narcotics. Police then carried out a search of the vehicle, in the presence of the two GDF ranks, and found 49 large bulky parcels wrapped with transparent plastic on the bus seats.

Police opened the parcels in their presence and found that they contained a quantity of leaves, seeds, and stems suspected to be cannabis. The ranks were told of the offence committed, arrested and cautioned.

The GDF ranks were escorted to the East La Penitence Police Station, along with the bus and the suspected cannabis which, when weighed, amounted to 316 pounds. The soldiers remain in custody as investigations continue.

This latest drug bust by the Police came in the wake of another similar bust last week, where two GDF ranks – Staff Sergeant Adisa Higgins and Sergeant Clovis Sam — were nabbed with 154 lbs of narcotics (cannabis).