Law enforcement authorities in Jamaica announced today that they have unearthed over a hundred packages with more than 300 pounds of cocaine in containers from Guyana at the Kingston Freeport Terminal Limited (KFTL).
According to the Jamaica Observer newspaper, the drug was found in two of six containers that arrived on the island from Guyana en route to Haiti and China.
The report said that while searching the containers, Narcotics Police accompanied by members of the Jamaica Customs Contraband Enforcement Team found a total of 122 packages (110 in one and 12 in another), each with a compressed white substance resembling cocaine.
The total weight of the drugs is approximately 139.4 kilograms (307 pounds) and the estimated street value is US$6.59 million.
No one has been arrested in connection with the seizure.
Contacted by Stabroek News today, Head of the Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU) James Singh said the unit is aware of the bust and that they have launched an investigation. He, however, said he is not at liberty to release further information.
This is the third international drug bust in recent times linked to Guyana.
In November of last year law enforcement officials in Belgium announced that they were probing the discovery of 11.5 tonnes of cocaine in a container of scrap metal shipped from Guyana. The shipment which was described as “the largest overseas drug bust ever, worldwide,” was seized upon its arrival at the Port of Antwerp. It carried 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.
Authorities had issued an arrest warrant for Marlon Primo said to be the shipper but he has never been arrested. The Guyana Revenue Authority subsequently dismissed some scanning staff who reportedly were operating the scanner at the time the container left Guyana.
And on August 22 last year authorities in Hamburg, Germany announced that they were probing the discovery of 1.5 tonnes of cocaine in a container of rice from Guyana.
According to a Deutsche Welle report, the seizure was made after investigators at the Joint Customs and Police Investigation Group (JIT) received a tip-off about drug smuggling.
The cocaine which had an estimated street value of around €300 million (US$353 million) was hidden between sacks of rice in the container, the Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper said.
There was no arrest on the local front in relation to this bust.
