CANU launches investigation into passage of cocaine at CJIA

…after Guyanese swimmer busted in US

In light of the arrest of Guyanese swimmer, Earlando McRae at the JFK International Airport, with cocaine in false walls of his suitcase, head of the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU), Major General Michael Atherly confirmed there was a breach at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport.
The 28-year-old departed Guyana on November 4 at 01:30h on a Fly Jamaica flight to the USA with transit in Jamaica but was arrested moments after landing at JFK airport later in the day.

However, Major General Atherly explained that the drug enforcement body received the news of the arrest almost the same time as the local media and as such, a probe was immediately launched.
He went on to say it is alarming that a passenger walked through several layers of security with over 2kg of cocaine and no one detected it in the suitcase.
Preliminary investigations revealed the illicit substance was smuggled in a hand piece which had to be processed through a scanner and the drugs ought to have been detected.
“What I can say at this time is that on the night Mc Rea left Guyana, CANU had a skeleton staff at the CJIA because most of the officers were engaged in a training programme but this does not stop the airport security and the Police to do their jobs…The drugs by all means should have been detected and as such, we will zoom in to what went wrong at the scanner,” Atherly noted.
He also emphasised that after the hand piece is scanned, the security at the other end can at any time request to manually check the luggage.
“The only reason why the hand piece was not checked manually is probably because no strange object was detected by the scanner… carrying this among of cocaine, it is strange that it didn’t show up,” the CANU head noted.
As such, he noted the airport security and Police at the internal scanner must give account for any slippages.
The national swimmer was taken into custody after it was discovered that his suitcase had false walls filled with cocaine. Based on reports received, the young man, who represented Guyana at the regional and international levels, presented a suitcase to the Border Patrol Agents upon arriving in the US and it was during a search of the luggage, it was discovered that it had false walls.
The young man was arrested and subsequently charged. He was remanded to the New York Detention Centre until November 21.