Latest update December 5th, 2024 1:40 AM
Local cops to involve Interpol
The boat that was transporting the cocaine
The police have intensified their efforts to locate several key players in Thursday’s drugs bust at Bartica.
The police acting on a “tip off” on Thursday, intercepted a vessel, with a large quantity of cocaine at Batavia, and located some eight kilometers ( five miles) up the Cuyuni River and about 24 kilometers south of Bartica.
The cocaine with an estimated street value US$5million ($1B) was found stashed in four large plastic containers on a vessel named “Amor”. That vessel was powered with two 75-horsepower outboard engines.
Police sources yesterday told Kaieteur News that the five people arrested, one Venezuelan and four Guyanese, have been transported to the city for further questioning.
This newspaper was also told that the vessel along with the drug was transported to the city for security reasons.
The persons detained were identified as 20-year-old Terry Jones also called David Crème, of Kurtuku, Cuyuni, said to be the boat captain; 41-year-old Deonarine Singh of Friendship, East Bank Demerara, 32-year-old Randolph ‘Fatboy’ Singh , 34-year-old Clyn Collier of South Ruimveldt and Garcia Luis Alberto of Venezuela.
Police sources yesterday said that charges could be instituted by Monday.
After the Guyanese are charged, their fingerprints will also be lodged with the Interpol database. Logos on the cocaine packages, which suggest the South America origin of the drug, will also be shared with international law enforcement counterparts.
Further this newspaper was told that the men could be linked with some known “rogue elements” from Guyana.
According to sources there is the rumour floating around that the bust has something to do with a city businessman for whom the police had issued a wanted bulletin several weeks ago.
Sources close to the investigation have stated that fingerprints of the “Venezuelan” was sent to Interpol ( International Police) to ascertain whether he is wanted or has been involved in crimes elsewhere.
Kaieteur News was told that officials from the Venezuelan embassy have spoken with the detained foreigner.
Kaieteur News understands that the bust occurred at around 13:00 hrs yesterday when ranks from the Bartica Police Station, acting on information, mobilised a team and headed to Batavia.
There, they intercepted the Amor, a small vessel that was outfitted with two brand-new 75-horsepower engines.
On boarding the vessel the ranks discovered four large plastic containers with false bottoms, containing a large quantity of cocaine. Kaieteur News was told that each drum contained about 75 parcels of the prohibited substance.
The five persons on the vessel were taken to the Bartica Police Station.
Ranks from CID Headquarters, Eve Leary, Georgetown, had to travel to Bartica to assist in the investigation.
However, out of concern that Bartica might be vulnerable to attack from persons linked to the bust, police and army ranks transported the cocaine haul to the city.
Reports are that the Bartica Police Station remained under heavy guard last night and most residents chose to keep off the streets as word of the drug bust circulated.
While information is still sketchy, police believe that the drugs came from Venezuela.
Guyana is considered to be a major transshipment point for cocaine and in recent months, Jamaican authorities intercepted two ships that originated from Guyana with large quantities of cocaine.
Some 122 kilogrammes of cocaine in a consignment of timber from Guyana, was discovered in a ship that stopped in Jamaica.
Jamaican authorities made the discovery on aboard the MV Vega Azurit which had departed last March.
Several persons were questioned in connection with the drug bust, but no charges were ever instituted.
And on April 3, two Barbadians and three Guyanese nationals were arrested after ranks who were acting on information stumbled upon one of the biggest drug busts in Barbados.
The seizure is recorded as the second biggest bust in Barbados’s history following the conviction and sentencing of six Guyanese, including two women, for trafficking cocaine and marijuana valued at over BDS$30 million or US$15 million into the island on June 4, 2009.
The authorities say 42.8 kilogrammes of cocaine was seized during the operation by the Barbados Drug Squad at a residence in the parish of St. James, Barbados.
The five men have been slapped with charges of cocaine possession, trafficking and
Police believe that the drugs, which were hidden in wooden pallets, were brought into the island by boat.
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