Containers may have been tampered with after security check – CANU

Jamaican drug bust

Shippers of the consignments that were busted with cocaine in Jamaica are currently assisting with a joint investigation into the matter.
This is according to a statement released on Wednesday by the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) which provided an update on the probe into the 139.4-kilogram (306-pound) cocaine bust made at the Kingston Freeport Terminal Limited on March 1, 2021.

CANU said investigations it conducted in collaboration with the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) confirmed that both containers in question left a city wharf in Georgetown. Investigations also revealed that security checks were done by GRA officials prior to the departure of the shipments and it is suspected that the containers may have been tampered with after those security checks.
Jamaican law enforcement agents conducted searches of several trans-shipment containers coming from Guyana and cocaine was unearthed in two of them. One container, which was packed with logs, was found to have a box with parcels of cocaine. The second container had multiple duffle bags that also contained parcels of cocaine. Both containers were seized and an investigation launched. The consignments were destined for Haiti and China.
Meanwhile, a senior law enforcement official in Guyana told Guyana Times on Tuesday that according to the records reviewed, the containers were cleared by customs for shipment. According to the official, the containers were shipped to Jamaica from Guyana with no stops before their arrival on the island. This drug bust came just after a huge bust in August 2020 in Hamburg, Germany. In that bust, officials in Germany discovered 1.5 tonnes of cocaine in a container of rice. Some three months after, 11.5 tonnes of cocaine was discovered in Belgium in a shipment of scrap metal from Guyana.