‘Stringent measures’ to return following cocaine-in-rice find – Sattaur

Khurshid Sattaur

Commissioner General of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) Khurshid Sattaur says that he will be forced to reinstitute the “stringent measures” in place to facilitate the examination of exports, including rice shipments.

This statement comes weeks after a shipment of rice which originated from Guyana was intercepted in the Dominican Republic with a large quantity of cocaine with a scheduled stop in Jamaica. Questions have been raised as to whether the drugs were placed in the bags of rice before it left Guyana.

Speaking to this newspaper on Tuesday, Sattaur said that pressure from the business community had led to the GRA removing the mandatory Drug Enforcement Unit (DEU) inspection from shipments. He said that following that change in the Standard Operations Procedure, the GRA would first profile potential “risky shippers” and identify them for