CANU, GRA positively identify persons who deleted scanner images

US$1B Belgium cocaine bust

The investigation into the US$1.06 billion drug bust in Belgium in early November continues, and Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn has related that the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) and the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) have positively identified the person(s) responsible for removing the images, dates and times from the container scanners.

Benn relayed the information to reporters on Monday on the sidelines of an event at the Lusignan Prison. He noted that the Belgian authorities are proceeding with their investigations, and the last information the local investigators got was that a former head of the Belgian Narcotics Division is being sought. He added that some examinations were recently made in other parts of the country in respect of trafficking routes.
When asked about the deleted images from the GRA container scanner, Benn relates that over 50,000 images were handed over to CANU for examination.
“They are trying, nevertheless, to examine (the images), but for sure, it is known who removed the images, dates and times. They’re the subject of further investigations, both at the GRA and CANU,” Benn related while refusing to divulge any further information as it relates to the number of persons under investigation.
CANU head James Singh had related that Guyana was used as a transshipment point. The 11.5 tonnes of cocaine reportedly shipped from Guyana was intercepted upon arrival at the Port of Antwerp, Belgium.

Singh had said investigations have so far revealed that this huge quantity of the drug was imported to Guyana from another country, after which it was stockpiled and then loaded into the container, and ultimately onto the vessel which reportedly left Guyana in September.
On November 4, it was reported that Belgian authorities had intercepted a vessel that allegedly left Guyana with a whopping 11.5 tonnes of cocaine – the largest drug bust ever.
It was reported that counter-narcotics prosecutors tracked the transatlantic journey of 11.5 tonnes of cocaine from Guyana, on the northeastern coast of South America, and seized it upon its arrival at the Port of Antwerp, Belgium.
Federal prosecutors had reported that this was “the largest overseas drug bust ever, worldwide” with an estimated street value of €900 million or US$1.06 billion. The drugs were disguised as scrap metal and placed inside a steel container, which was in turn packed into a sea container and loaded onto a transatlantic vessel.
According to the report, prosecutors were able to track the shipment following the dismantlement of a drug trafficking gang led by a former Belgian counter-narcotics chief, which revealed the existence of tight-knit links between criminal gangs and counter-narcotics and law enforcement officials.
The reports stated that three Police officers, a port manager, and a lawyer were among some 20 other criminals arrested as part of an operation targeting the “well-structured” criminal organisation suspected of orchestrating large and “regular” drug shipments from South America to Belgium.
However, the record-breaking shipment was expected by law enforcement officials, as it is suspected it left the port of Guyana after the drug gang’s arrest in Belgium, with drug gangs unable to intercept it once it was at sea.
The dismantlement of the drug gang late in September led to the arrest and indictment of 22 people, with three people still in the Netherlands, awaiting extradition.
This major drug bust comes on the heels of one in August in Hamburg, Germany, where authorities discovered 1.5 tonnes of cocaine in a container of rice shipments.
However, the hunt continues for wanted shipper Marlon Primo of Lot 701 Cummings Lodge, East Coast Demerara (ECD), and of 69 Atlantic Village, ECD. He is also the proprietor of MA Trading, located at 35 Factory Road, Paradise, ECD. A number of persons connected to the GRA have been arrested and released as the probe continues. (G2)