More than four years after a major anti-drug seizure in Georgetown’s Tucville neighborhood, a Guyanese national has been handed a severe custodial sentence and fine for trafficking cocaine, law enforcement authorities confirmed Monday.
Winston Hazel was convicted of trafficking 5.814 kilogrammes of cocaine by Magistrate Fabayo Azore on April 30, 2026, according to the Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU), the country’s lead agency for counter-narcotics enforcement. The conviction carries a three-year prison term and a GY$8.1 million fine, which equals approximately US$390,000 at current exchange rates.
The case traces back to a targeted CANU enforcement operation conducted in March 2022 in the Guyhoc Park district of Tucville. During the operation, officers pulled over a private motor vehicle carrying two occupants, acting on intelligence related to suspected drug movement in the area. A systematic search of the stopped vehicle uncovered five sealed parcels containing cocaine, which tested positive for the controlled substance and logged a total net weight of 5.814 kilogrammes.
CANU did not immediately release details on the status of the second individual who was in the vehicle at the time of the interception. The conviction marks a key win for Guyana’s ongoing crackdown on transnational drug trafficking, as the South American country remains a key transit route for cocaine moving from production hubs in the Andean region to global markets in North America and Europe.
The verdict was first reported by Demerara Waves Online News, with the last update to the public record published on May 11, 2026, by correspondent Denis Chabrol.