HOME Affairs Minister, Mr. Ronald Gajraj said the Guyanese authorities have not yet been contacted with respect to the drug bust at the John F. Kennedy International Airport last week. There has also been no official information from the United States authorities about the investigations, the Government Information Agency (GINA) said Friday.
Federal agents who had been conducting surveillance on flights from Guyana 14 months ago busted a network of JFK International Airport baggage handlers last Tuesday. The airport employees had managed to smuggle tens of million of dollars worth of cocaine and marijuana into the USA.
Minister Gajraj told GINA that it has been brought to his attention that the Borough Immigration and Customs Enforcement (BICE) of New York, working in collaboration with the United States Dug Enforcement Agency (DEA) is the combined force that managed to make the breakthrough.
As a result of the bust, the Minister said a number of people have been charged and placed before the courts. He said too that the Guyanese authorities are aware of the charge that some of the drugs unearthed, originated from Guyana and were exported to the United States aboard three of the main airlines plying the Guyana\United States route.
He said he is also aware that reports of airport staff from the Cheddi Jagan International Airport Timehri may be linked to the find and that efforts may be made for some of those persons to be extradited.
Minister Gajraj told GINA he is aware that the DEA had from time to time requested information from the Customs Anti-narcotic Unit (CANU). The Minister stated that local anti-drug unit has been cooperating and making available, certain information as has been requested.
He noted that no local agency has been officially engaged on the matter, but whatever investigation is possible, is being pursued at the moment and as usual, the Guyanese authorities are ready and willing to cooperate with any agency that would be involved in the investigation of these illegal activities.
In fact, Minister Gajraj reiterated, Guyana's security agencies stand ready to take part in any exercise that will help curb trans-national organised criminal activity. The Minister recently represented Guyana at the 34th Conference of the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD), in Montreal, Canada.
At that meeting, Guyana subscribed to several protocols relating to increased international security.