THAT TWENTY ONE DAY PROTOCOL

Feb 25, 2013 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) was in high spirits after it reportedly discovered a quantity of narcotics secreted amongst some lumber destined for Europe.

The GRA was ecstatic by the find claiming that it was the largest drug bust in Guyana’s history. That turned out not to be so as there were much larger busts unearthed in Guyana in the past.

The euphoria seems destined to dip even more following a report by the Big Market paper that the container in which the drugs were allegedly found was on a city wharf for twenty one days prior to being searched.

The GRA has confirmed that the container was at the wharf for three weeks days but explained that the delay was because the revenue agency had to go through the protocol of contacting the shipper so that the container could have been opened and searched after certain observations had been made by the GRA.

The Big Market paper seemed to be taken aback that it took so long for the GRA to search the container. The Big Market paper ought not to have been surprised. Instead, they should have complimented the GRA for taking ONLY twenty one days to have the container searched because from the complaints that are normally heard from businessmen two weeks would not be considered a long time when dealing with the GRA.

In fact as one person recently noted it took him two hours just to get a parking outside the GRA office on Camp Street. So three weeks is not a long wait. Not at all.

That three-week delay may turn out however to be fatal to the prosecution’s case. And what the GRA may have felt should have been the greatest drug bust may turn out to be a bungled investigation.

This past week global attention was riveted on the murder charge instituted against the double amputee Oscar Pistorius who ran at the London Olympics using artificial limbs. Pistorius has been charged for the murder of his girlfriend.

His defense lawyers went to work on the lead detective in the case, digging up details of his background, so much so that now he has been taken off the investigation and an internal probe has been launched as to how in the first place he was allowed to investigate the murder. The lead witness’s testimony came under so much rigorous cross- examination that at one stage it looked as if the prosecutor’s case was in serious problems.

The GRA’s case may end in up in dire straits because there is no way that any defense counsel is going to let easily pass the fact that the container in which the drugs were found was left on a city wharf twenty one days after the GRA decided that it needed to be checked. This admission is oxygen to any defense team.

This twenty one day delay can turn out to be problematic in establishing possession, an element that is critical to success of the prosecution‘s case. Already there are reports that some of the suspects have been released on bail.

If this matter goes to court, it is obvious what will be some of the questions that are going to be asked. The defense counsel will claim that their clients cannot take responsibility for the contents of a container which was out of their possession for three weeks prior to being examined. They will claim that the container could have been tampered with during that period. And the GRA will have to establish just what were the security measures in place to safeguard the container during that period.

The question will also be asked as to why it would take three weeks for the container to be opened? If this is the time to activate the protocols necessary then something is seriously wrong with the GRA systems and there needs to be internal review of this situation because what we are sitting on is a highly embarrassing situation that has international ramifications.

International anti-narcotics agencies, particularly those in Europe are going to be following closely the developments in this case and it would be a tragedy if the case collapses on the issue of the time it took to have the container examined.

When it comes to the prosecution of narcotic cases, there is always a learning curve. You learn based on experience. Everything does not always go right.

It is hoped that with such a big shipment however, and particularly with Guyana’s reputation on the line that this case can still be salvaged through diligent investigation that can link someone or some group of persons with the actual drugs found in the container.

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