What do Wilton Sinclair, Tricia Ann D’Aguiar, Fredericka Latrice Coats, Melissa Cox, Tanasha Fleming and Raphael Armstrong have in common? They were all charged with trafficking cocaine from Guyana to the United States of America between November 20 and December 9 this year. The total amount of cocaine seized during the arrests of these six people was 50.939 kilogrammes (112.3 pounds). No petty packets among them; these people were hauling expensive cargo.
According to research carried out by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and reports from persons working to prevent drug trafficking, up to 2010, cocaine fetched a price per kilo on the world market of between US$31,451 and US$76,897 depending on several factors, the key element being its purity. Cocaine that has not been ‘cut’ (mixed) with any other substance carries the highest price.
Other reasons for the variation in price included where the cocaine is sourced and its destination. The information suggests that the dealers’ markup takes risk into consideration as the further the source is from the destination and the more transshipment points that must be passed, the higher the price.
In New York and New Jersey, where it appears the last six shipments were headed, the current price per kilo, according to Narcotic News, is between US$25,500 and US$38,000, which puts the price of the seized drugs between US$1,298,944 ($263,946,455) at the low end and US$1,935,682 ($393,338,319). The sums invested in the movement of cocaine from source to dealer truly boggle the mind, and these are just the wholesale prices; more markups are added while the cocaine is cut and sold in smaller parcels, no doubt returning a high profit for the vendors.
The six seizures over the last two-and-a-half weeks would no doubt have put a serious dent in some drug lord’s empire, or perhaps more than one. But still the smugglers soldier on. Perhaps even as this column is being read, more mules are readying for the airport, cargo in hand, in body, on body, in luggage or waiting to be picked up. It is widely thought that for every mule that is nabbed another one gets by with his/her evil cargo. So they win some and lose some.
Guyana does not grow the drug, but is a huge transshipment destination. In fact, with its wide borders and endemic corruption, Guyana is more like transshipment heaven and it seems there is no shortage of willing mules to take the shipments to their final destination.
We have said in this column before that local law enforcement is unable to make enough headway in clamping down on cocaine coming into or leaving the country. The evidence is clear. Of the last six seizures, just one was done here, the other five were intercepted at the John F Kennedy Airport in New York after the mules had landed there.
In the case of Wilton Sinclair, the cocaine was in liquid form and was found in rum which was in shopping bags.
Tricia Ann D’Aguiar had her cargo packed in plastic bags in her suitcase.
Fredericka Latrice Coats, also known as ‘X Ali Aminah’ and Novia Gray,’ was said to have the cocaine concealed in hardcover books.
Melissa Cox was transporting cocaine in Fernleaf milk tins and two bags labelled ‘Chappati flour.’
Raphael Armstrong reportedly had the cocaine hidden in cream liqueur in ‘duty-free’ shopping bags.
The lone mule nabbed in Guyana, Tanasha Fleming, who has since been fined and jailed, had the cocaine stashed in baking powder and custard powder.
The ingenuity employed by drug traffickers must without a doubt keep law enforcement on their toes. There is clearly no time to rest on one’s laurels or become complacent, even after a big bust is made. Those who must move these shipments to earn big bucks are constantly coming up with innovative ways to do so. One has to wonder whether they employ innovators to hide their drugs as they do accountants to hide and sanitise their money.
One must consider too, since five drug mules made it past the security at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) in a matter of a little over two weeks, whether the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit and the Police Narcotics Branch have gone on vacation. Just how did five people slip by within such a short space of time?
In addition, the fact that in two instances cocaine was found in liquor in duty free bags, must raise serious questions. The procedure is that when a traveller purchases alcohol, it is retained at the duty-free store and only handed over at the boarding gate. How then did two separate people land in the US with duty-free alcohol that contained cocaine? One hopes that there is already a serious investigation underway at the CJIA; that the staff at the duty-free stores are questioned as part of this investigation and those found to have aided and abetted the passage of the drugs are charged and placed before the court.
