The Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) has been able to trace the shipper of furniture which was seized on Monday in Miami with cocaine in it and the net is being drawn tighter on those behind two shipments of pepper sauce cartons filled with the drug.
Sources say that following the publication in yesterday’s newspapers of a photograph of the furniture seized, CANU was able to identify who the shipper was. Further checks have to be made to determine if the cocaine was packed in the furniture here or elsewhere.
The M/V Rio Para on which the furniture was seized by US Customs and Border Protection Officers usually travels from Guyana to Suriname to Trinidad to St Martin and then to Miami. The shipment left in the 1st week of December and had been inspected at a wharf by a customs officer of the Guyana Revenue Authority. The US Drug Enforcement Agency has been in touch with local officials on the furniture bust.
Sources say both the pepper and the furniture cocaine probes have pointed out weaknesses in the area of Customs documentation. A broker had handled the furniture transaction for the East Bank shipper with a non-existent company name being given and a TIN (Taxpayer Identification Number) belonging to an individual being used. This discrepancy should have been picked up by Customs. In the case of the pepper shipments there were also deficiencies on the documentation.
CANU and the police are now seeking three men in connection with the pepper shipment: Reginald Rodrigues, Indarpaul Doodnauth and Orlando Watson. The sources say progress has been made since the publication of the photographs of the men and charges could be preferred shortly.
It is believed that Rodrigues has fled to Suriname and local law enforcers have been in touch with the authorities in Paramaribo and have notified them that he is being sought.
One shipment of the pepper cocaine was seized last week in Canada and the other days later in the USVI.
As was pointed out in the article , the Customs Dept. needs to improve in there process of reviewing documents for exports and imports .Also lots of pressure needs to be put on the brokers who handles these shipments ,if anything is found to fraudulent they should also be held resposible.
The govt should have sniffer dogs and scanners that can detect drugs and other contraband.
I agree; would you believe in this day and age, why don’t they spend some of the millions they get from just about every damned country to put such a system in place? they still have NO PROPER screening system at the airport? I keep looking for the improvement every time I go but to date i have seen none. Just got back from Christmas in Guyana and will never go there for another christmas. For more than 74 days it has been raining every single day and night in that place. It has now become depressing especially since the streets, trenches and yards are all flooded and yet THERE IS NO WATER IN THE PIPES. If there was, why would people be going half a mile to fetch same? and the folks who live upstairs and have no water tank, may God help them.
Jones just a reminder ,the system in Guyana today is you get fired when you touch the wrong person even though you are carrying out your duty as a enforcement officer ,the dogs is a waste of time they don’t want to stop nothing just lip service.
How about donating a few of those items to them, it would be nice if you can do that.
does it matter what or who they put there??? once these people turned a blind eye to things going and coming no sniffer dog or scanner will do…just go to the airport..see who is working there…see who they are checking….some of these people were born to their jobs…
well i guess my comments were too radical to appear on this issue.
This is not surprising ,Guyana is known for cocain and the Govenment is not doing any thing to pevent this drug trafficing.It says much about them.Are these people in authority involved/?
it looks very much SO! how could HARD DRUGS ESCAPE THE EYES of good custom controle? They all have “A FINGER IN THE PAP” I think that the customs officrs should be held responsible for not doing the work that they are being paid for.
Don’t forget the new sugar plant lost a lot of money and a new influx of dollars are needed to rectify same.
If there is no demand for these drugs then there won’t be any illegal shipment of these drugs. Where do all these drugs go to and why? Did you ever ask yourself these questions. Not too long ago,
President Gagdeo said that the United States of America is the largest drug users in the world. There is nothing the Guyanese people can do to stop this.
Let’s assume hypothetically what you are saying is correct and apply it to your kids. Are you saying that because your kids may demand drugs in Canada the govt of Guyana should do nothing to prevent the export of drugs to encourage your kid’s habit?
Furthermore, USA and Cda spend billions per year trying to prevent drugs reaching their shores. They also provide billions in aid to poor narco trafficking nations like Guyana. Its the least these poor nations could do in return.
Finally, to put you out of your misery and ignorance, do you know that drug usage is growing heavily in Guyana? Should those nations that provide drugs to Guyanese who become addicts not be blamed because there is a demand in Guyana for their drugs? btw, there is a demand for guns in Guyana too. Should the govt allow guns to be acquired illegally and without restriction because of this demand?
happy new year to all one question for the drugdealers why not spend the drugs money and help develop the country the govt. are allow to ship and make money so help them in the country. come on stop being greedy help the hand that help you
wat trash you sayin bannas
YES LET THEM FLEE TO SURINAAM.REMEMBER ROGER KHAN? SURINAAM POLICE MAY BE CORRUPT BUT THEY TRY TO LOOK CLEAN SO THEY WILL TAKE THEIR MONEY AND THEN PUT THEM ON A PLANE TO t’DAD WHERE THEY WILL BE TAKEN TO UNCLE SAM.
HAHAH
Comment: Finger the Custom Officials and CANU. For every dollar they recieve a thousand lives are affected. People, the state pays you good money to do your bad job. Respect your self, do not attempt to cover up.
Stop at being pawns.
At the end of the day – the American and Canadian Governments will do the job that countries in the third world cannot – namely detect and apprehend major drug shipments to their countries. In addition they are in a better position to bring to light the involvement of government officials etc. of those countries that are involved in this kind of criminal activity…So right now we know that there are three men involved in this – but I cannot imagine how millions of dollars in illegal drugs were shipped from Guyana with only a few petty dealers involved – and government agencies had no knowledge of it and let it leave Guyana undetected. I find that hard to believe…
What you are saying is all well and good emergencyrelief but please do not expect much from the American Government! For example:
1 Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme criminally operated through Wall St to steal 50 BILLION US DOLLARS of investors’ money and the American Government only appears to be looking at Madoff.. No accomplices have been named!
2 This morning’s news has the soon-to-be ex-President Bush haranguing Russia to resume gas supplies to (the-pro-US) Ukraine in order to prevent a HUMANITARIAN DISASTER and yet, in the same breath the soon-to-be ex-President Bush is saying the Israelis are doing the right thing to bomb the civilian population of Gaza.