The Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU) has secured an extension to further detain two of the four persons who were arrested as the agency continues to probe the recent discovery of a huge quantity of cocaine concealed in a shipment of scrap metal that was intercepted in Belgium after being shipped from Guyana.
CANU Head James Singh told Stabroek News that the agency was granted permission to further detain two Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) officers. Singh last night said that the other two persons were released from custody but are required to return to assist with the investigations.
Asked if his agency was able to retrieve additional images from GRA, Singh responded in the negative, while noting that the technical issues are still being addressed.
Pressure is building on the revenue authority to deliver scanned images of the scrap metal container which was believed to have contained the cocaine after reports that there had been tampering with the images. The tampering would point to serious collusion between GRA employees and drug traffickers.
Sources close to the investigation had told Stabroek News that the container was scanned but it appears as though the images from the scanner were altered or deleted.
On Thursday last, law enforcement officials in Belgium announced that they were probing the discovery of 11.5 tonnes of cocaine that they found in the container of scrap metal shipped from Guyana in late October.
The shipment, which is being describe as “the largest overseas drug bust ever, worldwide,” was seized upon its arrival at the Port of Antwerp.
It carries an estimated street value of 900 million Euros. The Brussels Times had reported counter-narcotics prosecutors as saying that they tracked the transatlantic journey of the cocaine from Guyana.
Singh had previously to this newspaper that the suspected shipper of the container, Marlon Primo, is also wanted for questioning. To date, he has not been located.
According to Singh, if safety is a concern for Primo, CANU is willing to offer him protection. Primo is the proprietor of a company under whose name the container was shipped. The company is located on the East Coast of Demerara.
The interception has once again raised questions about the processing of the containers before they depart Guyana.
In August, authorities in the German port city of Hamburg found over €300 million worth of cocaine in a cargo ship container from Guyana containing rice. The cocaine, which weighed 1.5 tonnes, was found in a freight container. It is believed that the drug was inserted in the Dominican Republic, where the vessel stopped before the cargo was taken to Hamburg.