– Venezuelan remanded after CANU seizes over 55kg of cocaine

A FOREIGN national has been sentenced to four years in prison and fined more than $82 million following a major drug bust along the Providence Public Road on Friday, July 24.
Officers from the Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU) intercepted a motor vehicle in the Providence area, uncovering 50 brick-like parcels of cocaine with a total weight of 55.296 kilograms.
Two foreign nationals caught in the vehicle—Revelino Achicue Ascue, a Colombian national, and Gerardo Martinez, a Venezuelan national—were arrested on site and subsequently brought before Magistrate Bess at the Diamond Magistrates’ Court.
Ascue entered a guilty plea during his court appearance. In addition to his four-year prison sentence, Magistrate Bess handed down a fine of $82,944,000. His co-accused, Martinez, entered a plea of not guilty and was remanded to prison pending trial.
CANU confirmed that the operation remains active, noting that several other suspects—comprising both foreign and Guyanese nationals—are currently in custody as investigations into the network continue.