US, Italy cocaine busts link coconut milk exporter to drug export plot

Vijay Bisraj

The New Sococo Enterprise, a local producer and exporter of coconut milk and fruit juices, has once again been linked to the drug trade, following the revelation of a reported plot by United States and Italian crime syndicates to export hundreds of kilogrammes of cocaine from Guyana to Italy.

Last week, United States and Italian law enforcement authorities announced the dismantling of a major trans-Atlantic mafia ring, which planned to smuggle some 1,000 pounds of cocaine from Guyana to Southern Italy with the help of Mexican drug cartels said to be already operating here.

Reports on the resulting arrests in both the United States and Italy said that FBI and Italian investigators had intercepted e-mail messages between mobsters in Italy and the fruit canning company. Court documents stated that in conversations recorded by an undercover agent, the conspirators discussed their connections to