A Caribbean Airlines employee is in police custody following the discovery of two bags containing 10 kilos of cocaine which were dumped over the perimeter fence at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), Timehri on Saturday night.
According to the police, the airline employee is assisting with investigations into the incident which occurred around midnight on Saturday. The cocaine has a street value of $50M.
Reports are that anti-narcotics agents were called in to investigate after someone observed the bags being thrown over the northern perimeter fence of the airport. A source at Timehri stated that the bags were observed by passers-by and following an alarm, police ranks carried out a search of sections of the airport while several persons were questioned.
The employee who was working with the ground handling section of the airline at the time was taken into custody after he gave conflicting accounts to law enforcement officers while being questioned. The source stated that a flight was expected to depart Timehri sometime around 3 am yesterday and the suspect could have been operating as part of an organised plan of drug traffickers but panicked. The man was being grilled by investigators yesterday, the source noted.
Charges are expected to be laid shortly, a police source noted yesterday.
Over the years an increasing number of persons have been placed before the courts here and in other jurisdictions in connection with the shipping of drugs through the CJIA. At the same time drug busts made overseas have not resulted in arrests here. There have been many drug busts at the CJIA in recent times in which foreign nationals have been caught trafficking the illegal substances. However, their contact persons here are never placed before the courts.
In October last year American Nakeia Slade, 30, pleaded guilty to the charge of possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking. The woman was fetching the drugs in several pairs of shoes at the time and she was subsequently jailed for three years.
In November last year another American woman, Viola Nury Pantaleon, 25, admitted to ingesting a total of 176 grammes of cocaine when she appeared at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court, where Magistrate Sueanna Lovell instituted the custodial sentence and imposed a $50,000 fine.
Several locals have also been placed behind bars in recent months after they were intercepted with drugs at the CJIA. In January this year, court assistant Terry DeFreitas had in his possession 1.044 kilogrammes of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking and was later sentenced to four years in prison. DeFreitas, 29, who pleaded guilty, admitted to swallowing 86 pellets filled with cocaine.
Several inter-related agencies operating at the CJIA recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in which they committed themselves, personnel and resources to improving security at the airport as it relates to the policies, practices and procedures within their individual spheres of operation.
Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee stated at the time that the agencies will collaborate in the sharing of information and intelligence in order to develop and implement plans to boost security at the CJIA.
Additionally, the group committed to employing only persons who were carefully vetted by security, reviewing their security status periodically and removing from employment any person known to have committed or facilitated any serious breach of airport security.
The committee functions and meets monthly, a senior official at the CJIA noted yesterday. According to him, the MOU captures all relevant issues relating to airport security. He said that new airlines are usually briefed on the functions of the committee and following a process they become integrally involved in the work of the committee.
