Guyanese held in new US drug bust
Ring smuggled 800 lbs cocaine
Stabroek News
April 7, 2004
Thirteen persons were arrested in the US yesterday in a drug-offensive that US authorities have dubbed the 'Guyana Initiative'.
They face charges in relation to being part of a ring that imported over 800 pounds of cocaine from Guyana to the New York metro area through the John F. Kennedy Airport. The bust followed a nearly two-year probe of drug smuggling from Guyana, during which some US$10 million was believed to have been generated.
Reports out of the US yesterday said those arrested were identified as mostly Guyanese-Americans living in Queens and Brooklyn, who between June 2002 and June 2003, imported and distributed about 70 kilogrammes of cocaine.
An Associated Press (AP) report quoted Martin Ficke, special agent in charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who said they noticed the pattern about two years ago and began the "Guyana Initiative."
He said the Guyanese were not supplanting the Colombians, but had carved out their own niche in Brooklyn and Queens.
A New York Newsday report said 11 persons suspected of being members of the ring were arrested yesterday morning in Brooklyn, the Bronx and Queens. One was arrested in Florida and another was already in custody on other charges.
They were charged with assorted counts of conspiracy and money laundering and were expected to be arraigned in a Brooklyn federal court late yesterday.
Other reports said the drug was smuggled in false-sided suitcases carried by passengers from Georgetown, Guyana and were distributed through New York City street dealers. Yesterday's bust brought to 83 the number of persons charged in the investigation.
Among those arrested are Sabrina Budhram, 36, and Arnold Budhram, 38, a husband and wife living in Floral Park. They are accused of laundering $10 million in drug proceeds through their inactive textile trading company.
Reports said the business accounts of the firm, Sabena Manufacturing and Sales of Floral Park, were used to launder the drug funds and generate cash, which the ring attempted to export. Ficke said $258,000 in cash was seized from suspected couriers.
The investigators with the US Organised Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, a joint federal, city and state unit, made the case after arresting a number of suspects in the proceeding months. Those members of the ring then began to cooperate and showed the reach of the conspiracy, which stretched back to 2002, according to one investigator.
Reports said federal agents have seized more than 380 kilogrammes of cocaine arriving at Kennedy and Miami International airports, in 50 separate seizures.
"The first line of defence is the customs inspectors at Kennedy Airport. That's where our case begins," the report quoted Ficke as saying.
He added: "This isn't the last of this, we believe we have a real significant problem with significant weights of cocaine coming from Guyana."
If convicted, the defendants face maximum prison terms that range from 20 years to life.
Late last year the authorities in the US had arrested more than 20 people in connection with a drug ring operating at the JFK Airport, which included persons employed at the airport. The persons were arraigned and their court matters are continuing. Earlier this year there was a similar bust in New York.
In February this year, Miami police arrested former national cyclist, Paul Choo-Wee-Nam with a quantity of cocaine in his car after he had allegedly uplifted it from a container shipped from Guyana. US drug enforcement authorities had followed the container from Guyana and had been watching it.
The US State Department's annual report this year pointed to the growing use of Guyana as a transit point for drugs.