An enormous cocaine seizure in Guyana highlights the authorities’ dependence on foreign assistance in detecting the large quantities of cocaine that pass through the country.
Guyanese authorities, working with information from the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), discovered an illegal airstrip where they seized 4.4 tons hidden in camouflaged pits in the north-westernmost coastal region Barima-Waini on August 31.
The record discovery dwarfs the total 85 kilograms of cocaine seized in 2023 and the 1.6 tons seized in total since the beginning of 2020.
SEE ALSO:Guyana Profile
The country’s Customs Anti Narcotic Unit (CANU) and its coast guard had seized another large load of 536 kilograms on March 29 after stopping a go-fast boat by the north-central region of Essequibo Islands-West Demerara.
Foreign authorities have also seized significant amounts of cocaine from vessels that had departed Guyana in recent years.
The US Navy seized 2.4 tons aboard a narco submarine 150 miles from Guyana that was headed toward Spain on March 21, 2024. Spanish police discovered a ton of cocaine aboard a Guyanese-registered fishing boat off the coast of Cape Verde in September 2023. And Belgian officials in Antwerp found 11.5 tons in a scrap metal shipment sent from Guyana in November 2020.
Interpol operations carried out in March and April also discovered a narco submarine that was capable of transporting 3 tons of drugs and that could navigate both local rivers and the ocean.
InSight Crime Analysis
The recent record seizure is more proof of Guyana’s continued role as a significant drug transit country and also highlights the importance of international cooperation in combating the trade.
A principal route for cocaine to Guyana runs via Venezuela, which is a major drug trafficking hub for Colombian cocaine. The drug route enters Guyana via the north-eastern Venezuelan state Delta Amacuro. Protection from corrupt Venezuelan military-embedded trafficking networks means drugs can easily enter Guyana.
Yet as well as Guyana’s proximity to Venezuela, the lack of capacity among the Guyanese authorities to detect drugs also makes it an attractive trafficking point.
“Not only does Guyana’s geography facilitate trafficking, but also its limited security capabilities,” Ivelaw Lloyd Griffith, senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies research organization, told InSight Crime. “Traffickers know the limitations of the coast guard, the police, and the army.”
SEE ALSO:Guyana Struggling to Tame Lawless Waters
The vast, largely unpatrolled coastline has long made Guyana a popular cocaine departure point for cocaine going directly to Europe. The Guyanese coast guard’s inability to cover its approximately 135,000 square km exclusive economic zone is a huge opportunity for traffickers.
The narco submarine discovered during the Interpol operation was not the first of its kind with links to Guyana. The first narco-submarine found in Europe in 2019, a vessel Spanish authorities seized near the coast of Galicia, was believed to have been built in Guyana, hinting at the country’s established historical role in transatlantic trafficking.
Increased flows to Europe may mean this role is becoming more prominent. But it is likely foreign intelligence is helping the Guyanese authorities to make more seizures now that uncover the country’s importance in trafficking, just as cooperation between French and Venezuelan authorities has seen increased seizures in the French Caribbean.
The increased foreign focus on Guyana as a result of tensions with the Venezuelan military over the Essequibo region could potentially lead to more seizures.
“While the Guyanese authorities themselves have limited capabilities, more eyes from foreign sources will be looking at the territory, land, and maritime,” Griffith said. “And so there is the potential for more eyes to find bad guys, including drug guys.”
Featured image: Guyanese officials pose alongside 4.4 tons of cocaine seized at an illegal airstrip in Barima-Waini. Credit: Stabroek News
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Publish date : 2024-09-05 06:31:00
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