Another drug seizure in Jamaica and even more silence

Jun 08, 2011 Letters

Dear Editor,
Once again the press has reported another large consignment of drugs being intercepted in Jamaica, from Guyana. This time 13 kilograms of cocaine worth approximately $77 million (US$378,000/J$32 million) was found aboard a ship bound for the United States of America, from Guyana. This recent drug seizure comes merely two months after Jamaican Customs at Port Bustamante in Kingston intercepted 122.65 kilos of cocaine worth a stunning street value of $700 million (approximately US$3.5 million).
Guyanese need to ask the authorities in charge of Customs and its Anti Narcotic Unit very serious questions. This amount of cocaine cannot leave Guyana without having a wide sweeping intelligence network involved. Also, no petty drug pusher can move that much ‘weight’ either! I find myself reluctantly having to agree with the line from an infamous Guyanese calypso “…somebody letting de cocaine pass.”
The amount of drugs leaving Guyana is appalling. And if the figures mentioned above are for those amounts seized, then one can only imagine the value of the amounts that go undetected. Every so often, the authorities manage to catch small time pushers at the airport; then, the justice system places harsh penalties on those found guilty.
However, it would be more than gratifying to the Guyanese community and the world at large, if the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) can use the perspicacity of its office to intercept the large shipments of cocaine in Guyana and not have foreigners do it for them at international ports further embarrassing Guyana.
When one looks at the street value of the cocaine being found on ships in lumber, dolphins and other forms of cargo leaving Guyana and examine the amount of money the government claims to be committing and recommitting to fighting the drug trade, it does not appear to be money well spent. Especially, if all that can be found in Guyana are very small quantities of drugs in hair pieces, pepper sauce, on grannies and in shoes.
It seems that the drug trade remains alive and well in Guyana. Therefore one cannot be surprised that crime is also thriving ominously in Guyana. Crime is inherently tied to the drug trade. Recently a few politicians have made clear their intentions to curtail both the crime and drug trade situations in Guyana as campaign rhetoric boils before elections. These are indeed honorable intentions which hopefully can materialize should a new government take office.
So far, I must admit that the current administration has failed miserably in combating the current scourge of the drug trade in Guyana. Another ship is found in Jamaica with hundreds of thousands of US dollars’ worth in drugs and still a deafening silence prevails in Guyana concerning the previous shipment seized in Jamaica in March worth over US$ 3 million.
It is time for Drug Enforcement Authority (DEA) to have a permanent base in Guyana. There is obviously a failed system monitoring the ports in Guyana that is neither efficient nor effective.
Yours faithfully,
Richard Francois – UAE

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