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Cocaine ship busted for a third time in Jamaica
Jamaican Authorities have discovered cocaine stashed away in a sealed container on board the MV Vega Azurit, a vessel which left Guyana on Sunday last.
This is the third time in recent months that the same boat was busted for drug trafficking.
The discovery was made at Port Bustamante by the Jamaican Customs Contraband Enforcement Team and personnel from the Jamaican Constabulary Force, yesterday.
The MV Vega Azurit, which was intercepted yesterday in Jamaica
According to sources, the drug was said to have been concealed in a 40-foot refrigerated container declared as being empty.
This newspaper understands that the container was searched and five boxes labelled Coke, Pepsi and Canada Dry had the drug inside.
Kaieteur News was told that the drug was tested and amounted to 50 lbs (22.7kg) of pure cocaine. The estimated value is $48M Jamaican dollars (approx. US$560,000 or G$113M)
Up to press time Jamaican Police had not made any arrests.
Kaieteur News understands that the street value for the drug is a whopping $40M.
Meanwhile Commissioner-General of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) yesterday told Kaieteur News that he has not spoken to any of the authorities to get information.
At the time of the call, the commissioner said that he was now gathering facts on the matter. Like the GRA head, the Customs Anti Narcotics Unit head James Singh said he too did not have information. He forwarded all questions to the GRA boss.
However source within both agencies told Kaieteur News that the vessel had been on the radar for some time now.
This newspaper was told that the vessel which is an Antigua and Barbuda registered one, left neighbouring Suriname a few days ago before coming to Guyana.
It was the same ship, MV Vega Azurit, in March, on which Jamaican authorities found 122 kilograms of cocaine in a consignment of timber from Guyana.
Several persons were questioned here in connection with the drug bust, but no charges were ever instituted.
In March, 112.5 kilos of cocaine were also seized from the ship during an operation.
On May 31, last, the GRA in keeping with the requirements of the International Maritime Organization for the exportation of products to the United States and other regions, the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) announced that its US$1M Container Scanner was fully operational.
The scanner was put into service on May 23, 2011, to meet the growing demand for thorough inspection of containers to ensure compliance with regulations regarding shipping to the United States of America and to halt the secreting of illicit substances with declared cargo. (Latoya Giles)
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