Canada seizes cocaine from ship with Guyana bauxite

RCMP Inspector Jacques Rainville, left, Alain Surprenant, in charge of intelligence for Quebec region at the Canada Border Services Agency, and RCMP Cpl. Genevieve Byrne with 81 kilos of cocaine seized at the port in Valleyfield. Photo by: John Mahoney / Montreal Gazette
RCMP Inspector Jacques Rainville, left, Alain Surprenant, in charge of intelligence for Quebec region at the Canada Border Services Agency, and RCMP Cpl. Genevieve Byrne with 81 kilos of cocaine seized at the port in Valleyfield. Photo by: John Mahoney / Montreal Gazette

Four persons were arrested and two of them have been charged after a large quantity of cocaine was seized from a vessel from Guyana, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said.

According to the RCMP’s website, it joined forces with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) more than two weeks ago and carried out a major drug seizure where 81 kilos of drugs suspected to be cocaine was seized at the Port of Valleyfield.

The drugs were reportedly concealed in the hold of a vessel – Jacqueline C – that left Guyana from Linden.

Four persons were subsequently arrested and two – 36-year-old Roldan De Gorio Tit and 48-year-old

Nazir Ahmad Hussain – have since been charged with conspiracy to import drugs for the purpose of trafficking. The RCMP added that the investigation is ongoing and the drugs were reportedly heading for the Toronto and Vancouver markets.

A report in the Montreal Gazette said that the drugs were seized on September 15 and were found in a vessel from Georgetown, Guyana that was transporting bauxite.

“After an initial search of the vessel, signs led us to concentrate on the front of the boat. And after a vigorous search, the cocaine was found concealed in bags in the hold of the vessel,” the Montreal Gazette quoted CBSA Deputy Director Alain Surprenant as saying.