Guyana drug enforcement officials unearth drugs in greeting cards

For the second time in August, the Customs Anti Narcotics Unit (CANU) officials in Guyana unearthed over GY$1,000,000 (US$5,000) in cocaine at the Guyana Post Office Corporation (GPOC) destined for the United States.

According to a CANU official, ranks at the GPOC checked several envelopes destined for the United States and unearthed the drugs concealed in greeting cards.

The official told reporters that the drugs, which came from several local addresses, were destined for the same address in the United States.

"Each envelope contained two cards, laminated with one plastic pack of cocaine in the card. It has a total weight in the vicinity of 200 grammes," the official explained.

The same official noted that the addresses of the senders were being investigated, noting that they had already checked out one of the addresses and no one by the name on the card was found at that residence, while some of the others were found to be fictitious.

CANU officials, although not claiming to be hand writing experts, believe this find is linked to two similar finds on August 7 and 8, where 65 grammes of the illegal substance was found concealed in four greeting cards destined for Holland.

CANU officials also said that the discovery was the largest amount of cocaine found in the mail in one day since it has been intercepting.

On August 21, CANU ranks at the post office again intercepted another five envelopes with an additional 100 grammes of the illegal substance with a street value of GY$500,000.

According to CANU, one of the parcels was from the same sender as the morning’s find, while the others were from a different sender. All were also destined for the United States.

Drug enforcement officials have previously intercepted mail containing drugs at the Guyana post office. This has led to Customs and CANU beefing up their presence at the facility recently.

The CANU official said that the trend of drugs being posted in mail is becoming a concern for the unit, and that drug enforcement officials were making every effort to end this practice.

(Caribbean Net News)