Head of the Customs Anti Narcotics Unit (CANU) James Singh yesterday told Stabroek News his unit in collaboration with the Guyana Police Force and authorities in the US are involved in a joint investigation into the bust, with the aim of not only attempting to determine how the cocaine went through but also produce some local arrests.
Questions have been raised as to how the pink suitcase with an orange ribbon, which was checked in on a Delta Airlines flight on Tuesday last by Dorothy Sears, got past authorities at the local airport.
Singh was reluctant to go into details about the joint investigation, saying he would not want to alert anyone into what angle the investigation is going. Asked about whether he will be questioning his officers who would have worked on that day, Singh would only say “we are doing a joint investigation and we would not want to tip anybody off as they may then cover their tracks.”
He revealed that Sears is cooperating with the US authorities and so it is not just “the person is arrested in the US and they go to jail and that is the end of it, we are investigating.”
The CANU head also disclosed that it is “obvious that the suitcase did not go through the normal route,” adding that it was scheduled to be picked up before it reached the passengers’ baggage converter.
Sources yesterday said that the drugs must be a huge embarrassment for the country as there is no way such a large amount of cocaine could have slipped through Cheddi Jagan airport without the collusion of someone working at the airport. It was pointed out that the police narcotics ranks were able to nab a woman with cocaine in her wig but not 50 pounds of cocaine in a suitcase.
Both the police and CANU have come under severe criticisms as while some couriers are being caught at the airport a number of them are getting through and many times with substantial amounts of cocaine. The trend of airport workers colluding with drug traffickers has been a longstanding problem at the airport despite several layers of security.
Meanwhile, officials at Delta’s local office refused to comment on the bust when contact by this newspapered.
Stabroek News understands that whenever cocaine is found on a passenger’s person or in their luggage, the airline is not fined by authorities. The illegal drugs have to be found stashed on the aircraft itself for the airline to be fined as then it would indicate that someone working with the airline is involved.
According to court documents seen by this newspaper, officials at the John F Kennedy Airport were conducting a border examination of baggage being offloaded from a Delta Airlines flight 384 which had arrived from Guyana. It was during the inspection a specially trained dog reacted to the pink suitcase, which was ticketed to Sears. Upon investigation, the cocaine was found.
During a customs examination of Sears’ carry-on luggage, she was reportedly “nervous, sweating profusely and avoiding eye contact.” She was asked if she had any checked luggage and responded in the negative. “A pat-down search was then conducted of the defendant’s person and a hard object was found concealed in the defendant’s bra. The hard object was found to be a plastic bag containing a green leafy substance,” court documents said. Faced with this discovery, which was later determined to be marijuana, Sears then admitted that she had checked-in the pink suitcase and stated that she had been instructed by an individual in Guyana not to pick up the bag.
She told US authorities that she was to be paid US$6,000 for checking in the suitcase by an individual in Guyana. She said she thought initially the suitcase had marijuana but when she received it she believed it contained cocaine because of the weight and the amount of money she was to receive.
Two days before Sears was busted, January 10, another Guyanese was intercepted attempting to smuggle just over 12 grammes of cocaine into the US.
Rayon Jarvis arrived at the JFK airport aboard Caribbean Airlines flight 522 from Guyana and he presented two suitcases, a black Olympia suitcase and a black Claiborne suitcase, to customs officials for inspection.
Upon inspection both suitcases were found to contain cocaine amounting to 12, 172.7 grams of cocaine. (Oluatoyin Alleyne)
