Hunt intensifies for Marlon Primo

THE Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) has intensified the hunt for wanted man, Marlon Primo, as investigations continue into how 11.5 tonnes of cocaine managed to leave the ports of Guyana undetected and made it all the way to Belgium.

Law enforcement officers, on Saturday, confirmed that they have since checked several locations for Primo but came up empty handed.
The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Belgian police and CANU are working closely to find Primo, who is the shipper of the containers.
During the investigation, detectives discovered that the scanner images of the shipping containers, which was conducted by customs officers of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), were deleted from the system.

These images were unable to be retrieved after three GRA officers, including the one whose signature appeared on the documents, were taken into custody and questioned extensively.
But after experts were unsuccessful in recovering the deleted scanned images, CANU had to release all the suspects, including a broker.
The four containers reportedly left Guyana on September 25 and were shipped by Primo’s MA Trading of Atlantic Ville, East Coast Demerara, to the consignee, Lotraco Recycling BV, in the Netherlands.

Primo is suspected to have fled to neighbouring Suriname. The CANU will be offering Primo protection and security, since he has expressed fear for his safety.
His last know addresses are 701, Cummings Lodge, East Coast Demerara (ECD) and 69 Atlantic Ville, ECD
The 11.5 tonnes of cocaine were neatly packed into a safe inside the container, which was then covered with scrap metal.

Counter-narcotics prosecutors in Belgium said they had tracked the trans-Atlantic journey of the cocaine from Guyana and seized it upon its arrival at the Belgian port of entry in Antwerp.
The catch is “the largest overseas drug bust ever, worldwide,” federal prosecutors were quoted as telling the Belgian media, and that the estimated street value of the drug load was €900 million.

Three police officers, a port manager, and a lawyer were among some 20 persons to have been arrested as part of the operation targeting the “well-structured” criminal organisation suspected of orchestrating large and “regular” drug shipments from South America to Belgium.