In a major anti-narcotics operation carried out in Guyana on Friday, law enforcement officers from the country’s Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) have seized more than 45 kilograms of cocaine and an unlicensed submachine gun, arresting two men – one Surinamese national and one Guyanese national – in connection with the international drug trafficking plot.
The raid targeted a residential property in Springlands, a town located in the Corentyne region of eastern Guyana, along the country’s border with Suriname. According to official statements and local media reports, CANU agents launched the operation after receiving credible intelligence about illegal drug activity at the address. When officers arrived at the scene, they encountered the two suspects in the property’s yard, standing near two unmarked brown cardboard boxes.
A subsequent search of the boxes uncovered 40 brick-shaped packages wrapped for smuggling. When law enforcement opened one of the packages for field testing, they discovered a white powdery substance that returned a positive result for cocaine. The entire seizure weighed approximately 45.6 kilograms. CANU officials estimate that this cocaine shipment has an approximate street value of 1.575 million euros, equal to nearly 1.9 million U.S. dollars, if it had reached illegal markets in Europe. The seizure was originally reported by local Guyanese outlet Demerara Waves, with additional details confirmed by Suriname-based media Starnieuws.
A follow-up search of the entire residential property turned up an illegal firearm: a black Uzi submachine gun, along with a stock of ammunition. Neither suspect was able to produce a valid license for the weapon, a requirement under Guyanese gun control laws.
Preliminary investigations into the smuggling network have outlined the alleged structure of the operation. Investigators say the 35-year-old Surinamese suspect, identified as Amrishkoemar Mathoera from Nickerie, a Surinamese district on the shared border with Guyana, transported the cocaine shipment across the border into Guyana. The 32-year-old Guyanese suspect, named Ravindra Sanakumar, received the drugs and stored them at his Springlands residence ahead of onward shipment to Europe, according to initial findings.
Following their arrest, both suspects were transported to CANU headquarters for processing. The entire cocaine shipment, collected drug evidence samples, and the unlicensed firearm have been confiscated as evidence for the ongoing investigation.
In a statement following the operation, CANU emphasized that this seizure is part of the agency’s ongoing, sustained campaign to disrupt transnational drug trafficking and crack down on the illicit arms trade in the country. The agency noted that actionable intelligence gathering and cross-border regional cooperation remain critical tools to protect Guyana’s borders and preserve the country’s national security, as criminal networks continue to use South American border territories as transit routes for cocaine destined for European consumer markets.