Law enforcement officials yesterday confirmed that they are looking for a city resident who shipped a consignment of Wiri-Wiri peppers with concealed cocaine that was intercepted in Trinidad and Tobago last Friday morning, before it could reach its United States destination.
The interception has also prompted a local investigation into how the drugs managed to evade detection at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri (CJIA), from where the flight with the shipment departed.
Crime Chief Seelall Persaud told Stabroek News that police and the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) are working together to find the shipper, whose identity is known. He said authorities here are also in contact with their counterparts in Trinidad.
Persaud opted not to reveal the identity of the suspect, who up to press time last evening remained at large. And while he said it was unclear about the amount of the cocaine that was found in the shipment, Stabroek News has since learnt that it weighed close to 100 pounds. The cocaine was carefully concealed in tiny balls painted red to look just like the peppers, which are used locally to prepare meals and make hot sauce.
The Trinidad Express had reported that a quantity of cocaine was found aboard a Caribbean Airlines (CAL) jet bound for Miami, Florida. The flight, which had earlier left Guyana, had to make a scheduled stop in Trinidad.
According to the Express, the airline would not say what the quantum of the cocaine was. The airline did, however, reveal that the cocaine was found during routine checks of cargo after it had been loaded aboard Flight BW480, which was a Boeing 737. The items have since been turned over to the Organised Crime, Narcotics and Firearms Bureau (OCNFB), which is continuing investigations.
CAL spokesman Clint Williams was also quoted as saying that the cocaine was discovered among a crate of pepper cherries (known as Wiri-Wiri pepper in Guyana). The name and address of the person to whom the package was consigned had not been disclosed, but a man was being sought by the authorities, the article said.
When asked why the sniffer dogs at the CJIA did not detect the drugs, Persaud said it was unclear if they were used to check that shipment and he is awaiting a report to ascertain what the dogs did on that day.
According to Persaud, sometimes officials have to depend on both the dogs and their handlers when searches are being conducted. The handlers, he said, need to pay careful attention to the action of the animals.
He added that cargo profiling is also done by the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) and if there is a suspicion about the shipment or the person trying to export the goods, red flags will be raised.
Meanwhile, CANU boss James Singh told Stabroek News that the person being sought is a regular shipper. Asked how the cocaine-laden crate of pepper managed to pass detection at the CJIA, he too said that is being investigated.
A source with knowledge about the case said that while the peppers looked real, the shipment should have been the subject of a very close examination since the shipper was suspected of being involved in cocaine trafficking.
The source added that it was embarrassing that once again a large amount of cocaine had managed to make it out of Guyana undetected only to be intercepted in another country. He said “something is not right,” since there are too many security checks at the airport before shipments are placed on an aircraft, for cocaine not to be found.
Persaud, however, said that even the countries with the best resources to detect cocaine-laden shipments “get beat.”
The source also pointed out too that cocaine traffickers are getting more and more desperate to get the drug out of the Guyana and are coming up with more creative ways to do so and as a result the relevant authorities should be prepared for the impossible.
Over the years, cocaine traffickers have used lumber, furniture, fish, fish glue, pepper sauce, coconut milk, and cabbage, among other products, to secrete drug shipments.
