1100lbs cocaine found in rum shipment to The Netherlands from Guyana

Over 1100lbs of cocaine was on Thursday last found in a rum shipment that departed Guyana and arrived in The Netherlands. The plastic-wrapped cocaine was discovered by Drug Enforcement Agents between the boxes of rum in the consignment.
Following the discovery, their counterparts at the Custom Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) were contacted and an investigation was immediately launched. When contacted, Head of the Unit, James Singh explained that about 500 kilograms of the illegal substance was found in the consignment of rum which left a city wharf, adding that the ship transited in two other countries before arriving in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
“The container was scanned and checked before it left Guyana and we have verified that there was nothing but the product which was rum from one of the local distilling companies inside the container,” he told Guyana Times.
He added that after scanning the container, it was under security at the port facility for a few days before it was shipped.
“This is clearly a case of a rip on-rip off operation… a reputable company exporting rum is now being seen as a drug carrier but this shows that things to happen when vessels stop at various ports before they reached their destinations,” Singh noted.
We have scanned images as evidence that the container only had rum in it before it was sealed and placed in the port for shipment… we have to look at various angles… one will be the quality of cocaine and if there were any distinctive marks on the packaging… then we have to look to see whether the seals were tampered with… so we are in contact with our counterparts who will provide us with the necessary details as we continue our investigations locally,” Singh related.
He reiterated that there is nothing to indicate that the drugs left in the container from Guyana and as such, he of the view that the drug might have been placed in the container when it stopped at one of the two ports.

On this note, he added that in the past there have been instances where drugs were loaded into containers during shipment. This, Singh noted continues to be an issue.
“Not because the shipment left Guyana, means that the cocaine left Guyana… we cannot continue to look at ourselves in the negative when we know for a fact the container left Guyana drug-free… The Netherlands authorities have to conduct its investigation and determine at which port the cocaine was loaded,” Singh stated.
Back in March, Jamaican authorities had reported that over a hundred packages with more than 300 pounds of cocaine were found in containers from Guyana. The discovery was made at the Kingston Freeport Terminal Limited (KFTL).
According to a news entity in Jamaica, 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 was approximately 139.4 kilograms (307 pounds) and the estimated street value was US$6.59 million.