Senior cop fingered in massive cocaine bust at Matthews Ridge

Sep 04, 2024 News

Home Affairs Minister, Robeson and other officials stand next to the seized cocaine

Kaieteur News – A senior police officer is allegedly connected to the US$188M cocaine bust at Matthews Ridge, Region One last Saturday and law enforcement authorities are looking to question him regarding his alleged role in the smuggling of drugs out of the area.

Local law-enforcement authorities believe that the large quantity of cocaine that was seized in a Joint-Services operation was being transshipped to Europe. So far, one man has been arrested and the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) said that several others escaped when law men swooped down on the Barima-Waini operations. Kaieteur News has been told that a senior police officer is being questioned in relations to his involvement with the traffickers. Sources told this newspaper that the officer might have been aware of the operations at Matthews Ridge where cocaine was frequently dropped off and then picked up by small aircraft. “They are looking into reports that this officer was aware of the operations and when the drugs would move in and out,” one of the sources told this newspaper.

A Joint-Services team led by the CANU on Saturday unearthed approximately 4.4 tons (4,400 kilos) of suspected cocaine, which has a current street value of US$188 million at a nearby illegal airstrip at Matthews Ridge.  Neatly stashed, the cocaine was found buried in four hand-dug pits which averaged five to six feet deep, covered with tarpaulins, woods then some bushes.

Speaking of the successful seizure, Director of CANU, James Singh told media operatives at the site that this could not have been done without the collaboration of the Guyana Defence Force’s (GDF) Special Forces Unit, the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the government through the Ministry of Home Affairs.

He said the operation is one of many that they would have conducted over the last five months with the Guyana Defence Force playing their part in helping to identify illegal airstrips within the country and monitoring them. “In this case, we were lucky in the sense that we were able to strike at the right time, whereby we were able to seize the drugs before they were transshipped to another further location,” Singh said noting this is an ongoing investigation.

Singh explained that the airstrip which was found, was not one that has been gazetted by the government and so it was built with plans to accommodate small aircraft bringing several kilos of cocaine outside of Guyana here.

Noting that several camps were found in close proximity of the airstrip, the CANU Head mentioned, “The fact that this amount of drugs were found in several locations means it was waiting for the transshipment, so it’s not like it came here to go, they are waiting for the opportune moment that is why I said we were very successful in not just in seizing but detecting a new concealment method and idea as to how big the network is.”

It was highlighted that the seizure of the drugs was the second phase of the operations, with the first phase being the discovery of a quantity of fuel just a few days ago at the location.

Singh elaborated that when the Joint Services team first came in, they noticed a few persons were fleeing into the jungle. “So the fuel, the follow up investigation with the assistance of the GDF, Special Operations section were able to do a follow up operation and the officers were able to seize what you see before you. The officers when they came in, they spent several days here combing the area and they knew that as we shared information with our colleagues from the DEA if it’s not above ground then it’s hidden somewhere underground, we discovered these pits dug by hand,” he said.

In his brief comments, Minister of Home Affairs, Robeson Benn yesterday said this operation is perhaps the largest ever seizure on land to occur in Guyana. “It exemplifies and identifies that we have been working at this problem continuously, that we are aware of certain flights to certain places illegally. The government and of course, the energy and interest of President Irfaan Ali, we are putting in much resources and many persons into getting onto this situation, we will continue this fight, we are happy of course that we have the United States Drug and Enforcement Agency with us sharing information and intelligence and backing us up on issues which have occurred from time to time but that this fight will be a long one,” the minister related.

A section of the illegal airstrip that was being used by the drug smugglers

To this end, the Minister further emphasised that Guyana is a victim of this illegal type of activity. “We do not produce cocaine; we don’t transit it; we don’t make the guns. The important thing of the drug trafficking is associated with the other elements of transnational organized crimes, money laundering, gun smuggling, homicides unknown and unsolvable in many instances and generally decline in law and order in environment where it takes over. We don’t want to get to that place, so we bode by this success, we will be doing everything we can to push our efforts to interdict and prevent drug being smuggled over, on and through our maritime space too.”

Having been working with international partners in combatting these crimes, the Minister also warned locals, the ones living in the interior regions to desist from partaking in these illegal activities.

“We will stay on this, we want to warn those who are engaged in it to desist because we will be coming after them; we want to advise people who are in the areas, who are in the environment out here and may be aware that things are happening that don’t want to say it but they need to say it, to save our country, to improve our security, to save our society in respect of this drug fight,” he said.

Questioned whether this operation might be executed by foreigners, the Minister told the media that an operation of this kind could not have been done without local help, “but of course, we think this is a major operation being done by persons in neighbouring countries and investigations are underway.” Following the recovery of the 4,400 blocks of cocaine from the pits on Sunday, samples were taken by CANU ranks for testing and then later destroyed at the site.

• cocaine, Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU), Joint services, Matthews Ridge, operation