– alleged owner reportedly told CANU
The alleged owner of Atiyah, formerly called Island Princess, which was intercepted in Ghana with over 400kg of cocaine, has reportedly told Custom Anti Narcotics Unit (CANU) officials that he had sold the vessel to an Africa businessman months before the bust.
Speaking with Guyana Times International, a member of the drug enforcement unit said he is confident that the accused is not the real owner of the vessel, but rather one of his close associates who owns a fishing business on the West Bank of Demerara.
The official stated that after the boat was intercepted, the alleged owner of the vessel was called in, but initially he told CANU that he never travelled to Africa and claimed that his passport was stolen.
After CANU produced a photo of him in Africa, he changed his story and told the officials that he was there to conduct business, noting that the buyer of his boat had owed him some money, thus he went to collect it.
With the various stories told, CANU officials have detected several loopholes and have been monitoring the individual.
The drug enforcement official added that another boat called Caricom, belonging to the same group of individuals, was intercepted with cocaine a few years ago in the Caribbean.
The official explained that at least four persons were charged and pleaded guilty for the 400 kilos (880 pounds) of cocaine worth around US$ 50 million. He said that once Ghanaian officials would have charged and remanded the person, it simply means that they have closed the case, and as such, CANU will have to continue the investigations here (in Guyana).
He said the businessman, whose name the fishing firm is registered in is under CANU’s watch as he is believed to be connected to the Ghana bust.
It was reported that the vessel was monitored at sea and intercepted with the illegal cargo by anti-narcotics officers working with the Ghana Navy.
Reports reaching this publication had suggested that the trawler left Guyana on October 22 empty.
The vessel is believed to have been registered as a fishing trawler in James Town, a suburb of Accra, and part of the boat was customised to haul the cocaine.
This newspaper understands that CANU has been working with its counterparts in Ghana to garner information on the bust.
This publication also learnt that CANU is presently hunting for a Guyanese living in the city in whose name the boat was registered.
Back in 2009, the Island Princess was found drifting off the coast of Grenada by the U. S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) after days of no contact.
At the time the Island Princess disappeared, it was believed that Mahendra “Sunil” Singh, Ryan Chin, Rickford Bannister and Titus Buckery Nascimento were part of the crew. The bodies of Singh, Chin and Nascimento were later recovered at various locations in the Essequibo River with several gunshot wounds.
Later, Rohan “Jango” Paul, to whom the vessel was contracted, denied that the vessel had any drug links.
He had offered Gy$ 5 million for information that could lead him to the vessel, which he felt could have clues as to what happened to the crew onboard.
In recent years, Latin American drug cartels have increasingly used West Africa’s coastal states, including Ghana, as transit points for drugs being smuggled to lucrative European markets.
