CANU wary of heightened attempts to use Guyana as transshipment for narco trafficking

With an increase in the amount of drugs intercepted in Guyana during the first half of this year, the Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU) has observed a growing push by foreign traffickers to move narcotics through the country.

Guyana has long been considered a transhipment haven for drug traffickers, given its geographical location within the region, coupled with its porous borders.

The Director of CANU, James Singh, told reporters on Saturday that traffickers are moving to get the drugs into markets where the demand and prices are higher, with fewer risks. He noted that Guyana makes for an easy route to pass the narcotics through.

“Guyana, being in the middle between the suppliers and the consumers… indeed, there’s been a bigger push to move the narcotics through [here],” Singh stated during a drug destruction exercise on Saturday.

In fact, he pointed to a major operation recently that involved a foreign drug-trafficking organisation that attempted to bring narcotics into Guyana and have them further transshipped.

“Luckily, we were able to identify that group, conduct operations, and we were able to dismantle [them and] place some of them before the court… But the scale at which that group came is an indication… that yes, we should be worried because of [heightened] efforts to use Guyana as a gateway,” the CANU Director noted.

Just last month, Singh had indicated that the majority of the drugs, especially cocaine, that are seized in Guyana come from neighbouring Venezuela.

“I would say 90 per cent of drugs that we have seized – cocaine… the evidence shows that it would have come through Venezuela. Where it would’ve originated from, we have no idea, but the last place before it entered Guyana was Venezuela, and several persons arrested were Venezuelan nationals,” he said in a July 15 interview.

According to the CANU Head, his agency has been reaching out to counterparts in Venezuela to curb this illicit trade but to no avail.

Despite this, however, the anti-narcotics agency, working in collaboration with local and overseas partners, has managed to make a dent in the local and transnational narcotics drug trafficking networks, with increased interceptions and drug seizures recorded.

However, these efforts have put Singh in the limelight, with several threats being made against him by suspected criminal groups from Venezuela. Local authorities have been working with overseas counterparts to identify the source of these threats.

But according to Singh on Saturday, while he is concerned for his safety, as well as that of his officers and colleagues from other law enforcement agencies that are also involved in the efforts to combat the narcotics trade, they have received the necessary support from the government through better equipment that allows them to carry out their functions in a much safer manner.

This, he added, is complemented by support from international partners like the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and others that work to ensure that Guyana does not become a haven for drug cartels to move their products through.