Latest update March 24th, 2025 7:05 AM
Deleted scanner images linked to Belgium coke bust still being recovered as extension granted to hold GRA staffers
The contents found by Belgian authorities
Kaieteur News – The Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) was granted a High Court extension to further detain two of three Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) staffers held in connection with the record drug bust in Belgium, as efforts continue to recover the deleted scanner images from the city’s port of exit.
That was confirmed by CANU Head, James Singh who informed Kaieteur News that the other GRA employee and the broker were released from police custody on condition. Kaieteur News was told that four containers left Guyana on September 25 shipped by Marlon Primo’s MA Trading, of Atlantic Ville, East Coast Demerara, to the consignee, Lotraco Recycling BV, The Netherlands.
Person of Interest: Marlon Primo
According to sources, only three of those containers were scanned and the images were later deleted. Under regulations, containers considered to be high risk leaving Guyana, have to be scanned at the facility on Lombard Street, Georgetown as part of the country’s protocols for exports.
It would have been impossible for the container to have escaped GRA’s system of being scanned. Now, GRA is attempting to retrieve the images.
CANU is still seeking local scrap iron dealer, Marlon Primo, a person of interest in the probe. A wanted bulletin has since been issued.
The massive load of cocaine left Guyana on September 25 and was opened in Belgium on October 27, with an estimated street value at €900 million.
It was disguised as scrap metal and placed inside a steel container which was in turn packed into a sea container and loaded into a transatlantic vessel.
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