Traffickers finding innovative ways to ship drugs – CANU

Those involved in trafficking illicit drugs through the postal services in Guyana are no longer sticking to the “traditional” method of mailing the substance inside of an envelope or package but have now come up with innovative ways.
This is according to Deputy Head of the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU), Lesley Ramlall, who told the media on Saturday that traffickers are being innovative and creative in the illicit trade.
According to Ramlall, of recent, traffickers are concealing small amounts of drugs underneath the stamps attached to mails and packages.
Ramlall pointed out that this is a worrying trend that can pose serious problems to curbing the issue of trafficking of illicit substances in Guyana. He added that the only sure way of law enforcement officials being on top of the situation is to have continuous training both locally and internationally.
“So you have the envelope and then you place the stamp on the envelope but the narcotics was placed under the stamp and then placed on the envelope. So, it was really small amounts but when you look at over 200 mails and then you take out a gram or a gram and a half from each one then you realise the amount. So, people, traffickers are finding all sorts of ingenious ways…if you are accustomed as a law enforcement officer and you are not trained and you do not have that skill set obviously, they (traffickers) are going to beat you all the time,” Ramlall said.

Regional
Meanwhile, with regard to cannabis being shipped to Barbados, CANU does not have any reports of the illegal substance going further than to that country.
“If from Barbados it is going further afield we have not been able to ascertain that neither our colleagues in Barbados have been able to ascertain that but certainly there is a lucrative market in Barbados…while we have the local consumption, we are also seeing the importation of cannabis coming out of Jamaica and of recent, looking at what is coming through the ports now with the legalisation of cannabis in some developed countries, we are already seeing the importation of that into Guyana,” CANU’s Deputy Head further stated.
He said that quite recently, there was a seizure of cannabis at a popular shipping company, and that cannabis came to the country from the United States.
“Even last year we had a seizure coming from Canada so that is something law enforcement we now have to be aware of and it certainly poses another challenge for Guyana and all other law enforcement agencies. So it is no longer looking at cannabis coming from Jamaica and seeing that fine deal with cannabis from here and Jamaica. The importation from cannabis from the developed countries certainly poses a threat and here again it is not only for law enforcement but those other couriers.”
Ramlall noted that agencies involved in trading, as well as importers, need to be much more careful, now more than ever, with commodities that they want to bring into Guyana because there is a possibility that folks can attempt to put illegal substances within containers or shipments. (Kristen Macklingam)