Cocaine ship busted again in Jamaica

Aug 18, 2011 News

Paramaribo – A ship that was busted with a large quantity of cocaine in March has been caught again… with cocaine… by Jamaican authorities.
Suriname’s De Ware Tijd newspaper yesterday reported that Jamaica made the seizure of 65 kilos of cocaine on Friday. The cocaine reportedly originated from Suriname this time around.
The Jamaican Customs authorities admitted on Monday that it is the second time in two months that narcotics have been found on the ship, MV Vega Azurit.

The MV Vega Azurit has been busted with cocaine twice in five months by Jamaican authorities

According to the Customs authorities, the narcotics worth US$1.5M has a street value of J$125M.
In March, 112.5 kilos with a street value of US$2.5M were also seized from the ship during an operation.
This latest seizure at the Kingston Wharves happened during a five-hour operation involving Customs and several agencies. The cocaine, according to reports, was found in three containers.
The March 16th haul (122.65 kilos) at Port Bustamante in Kingston, had a street value of more than $700M (Guyana currency).
The seizure was made by the Customs Department after a routine examination of the trans-shipment vessel, MV Vega Azurit from Guyana, which arrived around 05:00hrs that day.
The Jamaican Customs said that no arrests have been made but that preliminary investigations suggest that the drugs were destined for Jamaica.
From initial reports, the container with the drugs left March 12 on the MV Vega Azurit from the John Fernandes Wharf in Georgetown.
It was reported that logs in the container were part of a shipment from the Aroaima Forest Producers Association, but according to records were to be shipped by another vessel, the MV Stadt Rotenburg.
The logs were reportedly processed since in February as 130 pieces.
Members of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA)’s Customs reportedly processed seven containers, but eight were listed on the C-72 form, a document that lists all the items to be shipped and the number of containers.
Investigators believed that the name of the vessel was changed from Stadt Rotenburg to Vega Azurit somewhere along the way.