CANU working with partners to investigate death threats to Head by drug cartels

Some two months after receiving death threats from major drug cartels in the region, Head of Guyana’s Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU) James Singh says that his agency has not been deterred by this and is even more resolved now to dismantle the drug trade network both in and out of Guyana.
Back in August, it was reported that the CANU Director received death threats – something which the country’s leading drug enforcement agency says was not only a direct threat to Singh but also an attempt to intimidate the Unit and undermine efforts to combat narcotics trafficking in Guyana and the wider region.
It was reported that the threats came from major drug cartels within South America and the Caribbean, whose consignments were either intercepted or are being targeted by CANU.

Singh told the Guyana Times on the side-lines of an event on Thursday that CANU has been working with partners on this matter.
“We received some information about where the threat came from and the possible group behind it. In this field, there is always a threat, [but] this was more pronounced, and we’re working with our counterparts both locally and internationally. It’s still there, but I think we are more aware of what’s going on and those organisations that are behind it… A lot more attention has been paid to them both within Guyana and externally,” he related.
The CANU Head went on to further hint at where the threats came from.
“I can tell you most of the drugs that are coming into Guyana are coming from… our neighbouring country, Venezuela, which is labelled a ‘narco state’. So, they would be the ones who have a vested interest in intimidating us, as they normally do, to allow the drugs to move freely – because obviously they are not doing enough to stop [us from intercepting] the flow of drugs, whether by sea or by air,” Singh declared.
With Guyana being used as a transhipment point in the regional drug trade network, Singh pointed out that in addition to international support, there has been a strengthening of interagency collaboration locally that has yielded much success, including the major bust of 4.4 tonnes of cocaine that was found hidden in several bunkers at an illegal airstrip near Matthew’s Ridge, Region One, in August last year.
“For CANU, our aim or mandate is to stop the flow of narcotics… Standing on 4.4 tonnes is not a success. We found it, but it should not have arrived in the first place. So, we have to put up – and we continue to work on putting up – a strong deterrence that Guyana will not allow the flow of drugs into the country. And that’s why we’re working with our international partners,” the CANU Head posited.

Transhipments
Over the years, drug traffickers have been exploiting the rivers and jungles of South America by transporting large quantities of cocaine from Colombia and Venezuela through Guyana and Suriname.
It was reported that Guyana has been the focus of major United States (US) law enforcement operations in the last few years, which were done in partnership with Guyanese authorities and resulted in several multi-tonne seizures of cocaine.
Only in March this year, a cargo vessel originating in Guyana was discovered by Police in the waters of Trinidad and Tobago with approximately 182 kilograms (kg) of cocaine. Cocaine packages stamped with the Toyota logo, a known trademark of the Sinaloa Cartel, were found on board the cargo vessel.
Further, some 2370 kg (5000 lbs) of cocaine were in a self-propelled semi-submersible (SPSS) approximately 150 miles off the coast of Guyana on March 21, 2024.
Then in August 2024, Guyanese authorities, with support from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Diplomatic Security Service (DSS), unearthed some 4.4 tonnes of cocaine with a street value of some €176 million (G$40.7 billion) hidden in several bunkers near an illegal airstrip at Matthews Ridge, which shares a border with Venezuela.
Meanwhile, only in June of this year, Senior Superintendent of Police Himnauth Sawh was among four Guyanese nationals who had been sanctioned by the US Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for drug trafficking.
Also sanctioned were Paul Daby Jr, Randolph Duncan, called Rudolph Duncan, and Mark Cromwell, called “Demon” and “Diamond”, a former Police Officer.
In addition, two Colombians, Yeison Andres Sanchez Vallejo and Manuel Salazar Gutierrez, were on the OFAC SDN List. These sanctions were imposed under an Executive Order issued back in December 2021 [ILLICIT-DRUGS-EO14059] titled ‘Imposing Sanctions on Foreign Persons Involved in the Global Illicit Drug Trade’.
At the time of that drug bust on August 31, 2024, at Matthew’s Ridge, Senior Superintendent Sawh was serving as the Police Commander for Region One. He was subsequently removed from that post and assigned to the GPF Transport Workshop.