Recent drug busts overseas with Guyana reportedly being listed as the point of origin for confiscated narcotics, is a signal that the country has “returned to being a narco State”, says Opposition Leader, Joseph Harmon.
During a virtual press conference recently, the LOO said that Guyana’s image on the world stage suffered serious and irreparable damage when “the largest overseas drug bust ever, worldwide” according to federal prosecutors in Belgium, was found to have originated from Guyana.
“This is a day of shame and infamy for Guyana. $900 million Euros or 1.065 billion US dollars’ worth of cocaine was seized in Belgium. In Guyana dollars, this is $222.6 Billion. Consider that our National Budget for 2020 is GY$330 Billion. Then this single shipment is worth 67% of our budget,” Harmon said.
Belgian officials confirmed that 11.5 tonnes of cocaine was found in a container shipped out of Georgetown to Europe. The vessel reportedly left Georgetown in late October 2020.
“It is an astonishing amount and one wonders how such a huge amount of cocaine was packed into containers and got through a wharf where containers are scanned and which is monitored by CCTV cameras, along with the GRA (Guyana Revenue Authority) officials stationed there,” the LOO said.
Harmon was quick to point out that this is the second major shipment of cocaine which has been seized since the PPP/C regime was installed in government with the German authorities seizing 1.5 tonnes of cocaine in Hamburg in August, shipped in a container of rice.
He recalled also, that in September of this year, an aircraft was found at Nine Miles airstrip in Region Seven, with 390 kilograms of Cocaine
“What is significant is that in all of this, no one has appeared in Court. It is also clear that Irfan Ali and Bharat Jagdeo must bear strict responsibility for this state of affairs. Since they came to office, they dismantled the National Anti-Narcotics Agency (NANA), and reinstated the Head of CANU who was dismissed. The signs are clear for every Guyanese to see what is happening under the PPP regime. We have returned to being a narco-state but now we are breaking global records for cocaine shipments,” Harmon said.
