DEA, CANU seize narco-submarine with 5000lbs of cocaine off Guyana’s coast

The United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), with assistance from Guyana’s Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU), has busted a naro-submarine with 2,370 kilograms (5000lbs) of cocaine “approximately 150 miles off the coast of Guyana.”
In a statement on Thursday, the United States Embassy in Georgetown said that on March 21, “the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) Georgetown Country Office collaborated with the Joint Interagency Task Force South (JIATFS), Guyana Customs Anti-Narcotics
Unit (CANU), and the United States Coast Guard (USCG) to seize a Self-Propelled Semi-Submersible (SPSS) approximately 150 miles off the coast of Guyana.”
According to that statement, the SPSS was carrying 2,370 kilograms of cocaine.
“The US Navy’s guided missile cruiser USS Leyte Gulf interdicted the self-propelled semi-submersible, resulting in the arrest of four individuals and seizure of the cocaine.

“This landmark SPSS seizure will be prosecuted in the United States. The U.S. Government remains committed to its support of the Government of Guyana and its Caribbean partners in developing ever-greater capacity to disrupt illicit trafficking and transnational crime to advance citizen security,” the statement from the embassy said.
On March 29, CANU intercepted two Venezuelan nationals with US$2.6 million worth of cocaine at Vergenoegen, East Bank Essequibo. And prior to that interception, CANU ranks seized more than 100 pounds of cocaine at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) in February. When that bust was made, reports indicated that CANU agents stationed at the CJIA observed two suspects retrieving four duffle bags thrown over the airport fence by an unidentified male. Upon interception, a search of the duffle bags led to the discovery of 64 brick-like parcels suspected to contain cocaine.
CANU had said that the narcotics were intended for transport on a British Airways flight bound for St Lucia, with a subsequent connection to the United Kingdom.
The potential street value of the narcotics seized, had they reached their intended destination, was estimated at over £3 million, equivalent to approximately G$679 million.

Just over one week ago, CANU Director James Singh had said that that drug enforcement unit had seized a startling 1.1 tonnes of marijuana and over 75 kilograms of cocaine from various operations across the country.
He noted that most of the marijuana had come from the Andean region of South America, which includes Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela.