AIRPORT STAFF ACCUSED OF COLLUDING WITH TRAFFICKERS AFTER RECENT COCAINE FINDS

- - No Local Arrests Made

Three known cases of cocaine found in passengers' luggage over the
last four months support claims by a top government official and an
airline official that airport staff have been colluding with drug
traffickers to export the narcotic.

The most recent incident last Wednesday, involved the mysterious
removal of a nametag from a suitcase checked in by a passenger, to a
small bag containing 1 kilo of cocaine. Stabroek News understands
that the bag was found on a Fort Lauderdale bound Constellation
Tours aircraft. A source told this newspaper that some airport staff
were currently being interviewed in relation to the incident.

This newspaper understands that the passengers checked in as normal
but on making the baggage count a Securicor security officer
realized that an extra bag had been loaded onto the plane. A check
by security staff revealed that the tag from one of four
bags checked in by a passenger who was travelling with
his wheelchair-bound daughter, had been removed and placed on the small bag.

The source said the man and his daughter were taken off the plane
and he identified the suitcase without the tag as theirs. This was
further confirmed by the airline's check-in counter clerk, who
insisted that he checked in the suitcase and placed the airline's
tag on it. This newspaper was further told that
Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) ranks questioned the man and he
was not allowed to travel on the scheduled flight to cater for
preliminary investigations but was subsequently allowed out on a
flight later that day.

This newspaper understands also that all the Securicor staffers on
duty on the said day were questioned and at least two others were
still to be questioned. However, the source pointed out that to date
no arrests have been made, positing "someone at the back had to take
the tag off that man's suitcase and put it on the bag to get it
passed because the man's suitcase was checked and the stub was
placed on it at the front." This newspaper was told that no one
claimed ownership of the little green bag.

This incident comes a mere month after a cocaine laden suitcase
managed to make its way from Guyana, undetected at the airport here,
to the JFK International Airport in New York, on an August 1
TravelSpan flight. Guyanese Gavin Waaldijk, 23, boarded the
TravelSpan flight and on arrival in New York, where cargo and
passengers are subject to inspection by US Customs officials, a
narcotics-detecting dog alerted the authorities to a suitcase
bearing his name.

Customs and Border Patrol authorities found 31 brick-shaped objects,
identified as cocaine, wrapped in plastic, which when weighed
amounted to 35.078 kilogrammes. When the US authorities found
Waaldijk he had one piece of carry-on luggage and another suitcase
with the corresponding tag. He is being held in the US for
knowingly, intentionally and unlawfully importing cocaine into that country.

Following the interception, TravelSpan officials said in a statement
that it was clear that there was collusion among persons working at
the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), Timehri and drug
traffickers. Airlines are fined considerable sums and penalties by
US authorities when contraband is found on aircraft arriving in the
US. However, to date TravelSpan has not received any such
notification from the US authorities.

TravelSpan had said that it continues to be very concerned about the
ongoing cocaine trafficking from Guyana, plaguing the country and
the aviation industry. It said that even though it had implemented
stringent security measures at the CJIA, including three layers of
baggage identification, screening of employees by three different
organizations and shrink wrapping of all passenger baggage before
boarding, there continued to be occasional incidents of contraband
getting onto its aircraft.

The statement noted that this problem was not unique to TravelSpan,
"It is a burden on all of the airlines serving Guyana," adding that
"Most major international airlines refuse to serve CJIA because of
persistent drug trafficking." TravelSpan also said "the drug trade
is a major deterrent to foreign investment and will eventually
destroy any opportunity for long-term growth and economic
development in Guyana."

In June, CANU ranks at the airport intercepted a suitcase bound for
Canada with 6,583 grammes of cocaine inside. From all appearances,
persons unknown were attempting to smuggle the drug out of the
country by labelling the suitcase with the name of a passenger who
was scheduled to leave for Canada. A CANU officer had told the media
that on that day a woman in a wheelchair scheduled to leave on a
Zoom Airlines flight bound for Canada checked in with one black
suitcase. The officer said an airline official later noticed a brown
suitcase next to the woman's and on checking discovered that
the woman's name was written on it but in a different handwriting.
Officials at the airport were alerted and on checking found six huge
parcels of cocaine underneath two bath towels. There was nothing
else in the suitcase. The officer told reporters that it appeared
that someone had planted the drug-laden suitcase next to the woman's
in an attempt to get it out of the country! . The woman was not arrested.

Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon, asked to
comment on this incident, said he felt some airport staff were
collaborating with external forces to facilitate drug trafficking.
"I don't have a problem saying that members of staff are
collaborating with external forces and have arrangements to have
drugs sent out by air... I think their support extends as far as
deliberately disabling surveillance equipment in place at the
airport," Luncheon had said.

The real purpose of security cameras at the airport has also been an
issue and Commissioner-General of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA)
Khurshid Sattaur had said that the cameras were set up mainly for
the GRA's use. Sattaur had told this newspaper that the GRA had set
up the cameras to monitor its operations and that it could not
prevent drug trafficking. However, he said, if an incident occurred,
the law enforcement agencies could ask the authority to view the
tapes to assist with their investigations.