Its home to rock n roll legends AC/DC, kangaroos, Granny Smith apples, and mountains upon mountains of MDMA and crystal meth, apparently. 11/06/2020 12:01 am. Officers intercepted a truck carrying 55 million methamphetamine WebA major drug bust on a container ship that has been described as the largest ever overseas drug bust in the world, has been traced to Guyana. WebNovember 6, 2020 Law enforcement officials in Belgium are probing the discovery of 11.5 tons of cocaine, which was unearthed in a container of scrap metal from Guyana and Log in for full access to stabroeknews.com. Amount Seized: 105 tons of marijuanaValue: $425 million. And on August 22 last year authorities in Hamburg, Germany announced that they were probing the discovery of 1.5 tonnes of cocaine in a container of rice from Guyana. gcse.src = 'https://cse.google.com/cse.js?cx=' + cx; var gcse = document.createElement('script'); classi_advt@yahoo.com or gnnladvertisingdepartment@gmail.com, Chronicles of a Chronic Guyana Chronicler, Patrons already flocking to get back into the gyms, Relief for Victoria, Nabaclis and Golden Grove farmers. The Coast Guard boarded the ship and, in what sounds like the most boring drug seizure of all time, happened upon the drugs. })(); 2013 - 2017 New Source Guyana | Website by. This month the DEA made the biggest meth bust in American history: 2200 pounds of meth, nearly 900 pounds of cocaine, and 13 pounds of heroin. The discovery was made at the Kingston Freeport Terminal Limited (KFTL) on Monday afternoon. var cx = '014742376270991751669:2oy3vex5f7k'; Tranquilandia was located deep in the unkempt jungles of Colombia and consisted of eight airstrips, had its own electrical grid and water supply, and housed 19 laboratories dedicated solely to the manufacturing of cocaine. THE Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) has been contacted by its international counterpart, after a shipment of 11.5 tonnes of cocaine was seized in Belgium. The mafias planned to smuggle cocaine from Guyana to a port in Calabria, underlining how powerful criminal groups have been drawn tothe Latin American nation when developing new trafficking routes. Continue reading , Enter your email address to follow and get all blog entries, Guyana and World News and news from the Guyanese Diaspora, CRIME: Belgian police seize 11.5 tons of cocaine in shipment fromGuyana, CRIME: Belgian police seize 11.5 tons of cocaine in shipment from Guyana, GUYANESE AUTHORS: Published Books Featured in GuyaneseOnline, Dmitri Allicock Oh Beautiful Guyana Blog sponsored by GuyaneseOnline, Peter Halder Blog sponsored by GuyaneseOnline, RECIPES From Guyana and the Caribbean - From Guyana Outpost archive, Guyana History: The house with ninety-nine windows, Five-star gated community being built at Providence. Authorities had issued an arrest warrant for Marlon Primo said to be the shipper but he has never been arrested. The bust also yielded three guns, two assault rifles, and $85,000 in cash. But now homegrown criminals are muscling in on the action. hydraulic steel doors, elevators, a wooden staircase, what sounds like the most boring drug seizure of all time, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. The next morning, the Santa Barbara Sheriffs Office announced the 34 arrests and the seizure of 3,164 pounds of methamphetamine the biggest drug bust in the countys history, and one of the largest ever in the nation. The reports stated that three police officers, a port manager, and a lawyer were among some 20 other criminals arrested as part of an operation targeting the well-structured criminal organisation suspected of orchestrating large and regular drug shipments from South America to Belgium. When the container was examined at the citys customs office, investigators revealed that they discovered 47 large packages of cocaine hidden between sacks of rice from Guyana. We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. (function() { On this note, Singh told this publication that the members of staff of the Revenue Body who were detained had to be released since the 72-hour detention period had expired. A FREE roundup of top news from Guyana you might otherwise miss. He said the local agency has been in touch with law enforcement officers in Belgium and the two sides are working together. After that process, he stated that persons who are found culpable should face the consequences. Federal authorities raided the ship later that day. The crewmen loaded the drugs on the MSC Gayane after 20 small boats pulled alongside off Peru, authorities said previously. 0. Durasevic said he was paid $50,000 for his role in the conspiracy, according to court records. WebInvestigators said the bust is the largest drug haul in the world in terms of both value and quantity. The cocaine was found 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. We have established and reported that the images of the scanned container were deleted which meant that staff members were involved it is now up to the Guyana Revenue Authority to launch an internal probe to determine what went wrong, Singh noted in a telephone interview on Tuesday. But when youre spending over $1,000 a week on rubber bands just to wrap your stacks and stacks of money, does losing a billion of it really matter? We want to sustain Latin Americas largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources. In 2012,the United States provided Guyana with $500,000 under the security initiative. The report added that drug traffickers exploit the countrys poorly monitored ports, remote airstrips, intricate river networks, porous land borders, as well as a permissive environment created as a result of corruption.". According to media reports out of Belgium, the Counternarcotics prosecutors there have tracked the transatlantic journey of the 11.5-tons of cocaine from Guyana. Now take that image and fill it with hashishweeds gnarlier cousinand youll have an idea of just how much of the stuff Afghani police forces confiscated in June of 2008. gcse.type = 'text/javascript'; Following the discovery there, Guyanas Custom This was the largest drug bust in the 230-year history of the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol arm of the Department of Homeland Security. The country produced 9,000 tonnes last year, enough to make more than 880 tonnes of heroin, or 93% of the world's supply. That is, until 1984, when DEA agents and the Colombian National Police raided the complex and shut it down. (function() { In May of 2014, federal agents seized over 50 pounds of heroin after busting a transport vehicle en route from the Bronx, New York to Hartford, Connecticut. Authorities in Mexico broke up a large-scale, clandestine meth and fentanyl lab that could process up to 11,000 pounds of raw product at a time, federal prosecutors said. Prosecutors in our Office have been working non-stop to pursue justice since the MSC Gayane docked in the port of Philadelphia over two years ago, and we will not stop until the case is closed.. According to the report, prosecutors were able to track the shipment following the dismantlement of a drug trafficking gang led by a former Belgian counter-narcotics chief, which revealed the existence of tight-knit links between criminal gangs and counter-narcotics and law enforcement officials. The police have stated that the huge stash of drugs belonged to Dario Antonia Usuga, the chief of Colombias largest drug-trafficking gang, the Gulf Clan and Colombias most Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article. A recent string of high-profile interceptions targeting international drug trafficking operations has confirmed Guyana remains a crucial transit point for cocaine headed to the United States and across the Atlantic. Authorities have suggested the load was destined for Poland, from which the drugs would be distributed across Europe. In that case, it was suspected that the cocaine might have been placed in the rice shipment after it left Guyana and during its many stops before it reached Germany. There have been questions about the operation of the container scanners at the city wharves that are operated by the Customs Department of the GRA. Canadians Smuggling in 2018 95 kilogram of Cocaine- $21 Million Canadians Melina This latest bust of cocaine in containers from Guyana, follows two other drug busts internationally that were also linked to containers that were shipped from Guyana. Guyanese officials have benefited from extra training provided by the US-funded Caribbean Basin Security Initiative, aiming to help authorities in Guyana intercept cocaine flooding into the nation, particularly from Colombia. Credited as the biggest drug bust in Mexicos history, Mexican authorities seized 105 tons of marijuana in Tijuana. The total weight of the drugs is approximately 139.4 kilograms (307 pounds) and the estimated street value is US$6.59 million. Guyanese Online. He added that robust counter-narcotics measures taken by nearby nations had resulted in a balloon effect, pushing traffickers to establish new routes in Guyana. (Advertising Department) Hidden inside seven shipping containers was 15,000kg of the illicit drug, one of the largest caches ever intercepted on US shores and a quantity that's almost "beyond comprehension", according to Patrick Trainor, a spokesman for the US Drug Enforcement Agency in Philadelphia. Crime Chief and Head of the Criminal Investigations Department, Wendell Blanhum during the launching of the Forces Christmas Policing Plan at the Officers Mess Hall on Tuesday said that intelligence-led operations and the hard work of ranks all over Guyana were attributing factors for the success this year. Federal prosecutors had reported that this was the largest overseas drug bust ever, worldwide with an estimated street value of 900 million or US$1.06 billion. This is the third international drug bust in recent times linked to Guyana. Posts about Largest drug bust in the world written by guyaneseonline. One CANU official confirmed that two persons, including the shipper of the container that was found with the cocaine, are in custody. You have entered an incorrect email address! gnnleditorial@gmail.com (Editorial) The score, valued at $1.5 billion, was the largest seizure of methamphetamines and the second-largest of MDMA in the nations history. You know those double-decker buses in London? Narcotics Police in Jamaica are probing the discovery of scores of packages with more than 300 pounds of cocaine which were found in containers that arrived in the island from Guyana. In Guyana, four suspects were arrested in connection with the shipment, according to the Guyanese Minister of Home Affairs. Daily inspections were carried out on cargo, ports of exit and entry, airports and border locations where checkpoints were established, Blanhum said. Amount Seized: 27 tons of cocaineValue: $500 million. And with all that sweet loot, infamous drug dealers make even more infamous purchases, like incredible mansions, rare sports cars, and exotic pet trifectas. The cargo ship docked in Colombia, Peru, Panama and the Bahamas before arriving in Philadelphia early on Monday. When compared to previous years, this represents the largest quantity of cannabis seized within the last five years. The statistics show a downward trend from the year 2020 to 2022.. We go into the field to interview, report and investigate. The United Nations drug agency says cocaine production increased by a third between 2020 and 2021, which was a record high and the biggest year-to-year increase since 2016. GUYANA: Short Story:- When I was in the Diamond business in Guyana - By Royden V Chan. (DOMINICK REUTER/AFP via Getty Images), Copyright 2023 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. This, he reiterated, proves that there was definitely collusion between the big fishes and staff members of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA). At the end of the day, they confiscated over a billion dollars from Escobar. Unfortunately not a Latino spinoff of Portlandia,Tranquilandiawas the name of one of the largest cocaine processing laboratories in history, owned by historys most infamous drug lordPablo Escobar.