Two passengers nabbed with 20 kilo of cocaine in tamarind achar

AcharGeorgetown: Despite the crafty ways drugs peddlers use to smuggle illegal substances through the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) – the security agencies continue their pursuit to cripple the narco-trade.

To this end, two passengers were nabbed separately on Saturday, February 8, 2014 at the Timehri aerodrome with approximately 20 kilogrammes of cocaine found in tamarind achar.

At 15:45 h, the baggage of 77 year-old Winston Blake, a United States of America citizen, unearthed two packages of achar. The cocaine – over 10 kilos – was concealed in tamarind seeds.

Similarly, Guyanese citizen, Sadeeka Odie, 38, was apprehended around 17:10 h after packages of achar with cocaine in the shape of tamarind seeds were also found. She was travelling with her nine year-old daughter.

Both passengers were enroute to New York City on Caribbean Airlines. The seizures of the illegal substance are the first for February.

In January, a Canadian citizen was caught with 9.5 kilogrammes of cocaine while in-transit at CJIA. He flew from Trinidad and Tobago. The drugs were discovered in false walls in his checked luggage.

Meanwhile, the Law Enforcement Agencies must be lauded for these detections which saw the cocaine being cleverly made in the form of tamarind seed and placed in achar.

It is a stark reminder of the lengths at which those involve in the narco-trade would go to move the drugs through our ports.

In the past, drugs were concealed in pepper sauce, star-apple, pumpkin, cabbage, chowmein, ochro, false walls and bottoms of suitcases, shoe soles, wigs among others.