Guyana Government Sets Up Inquiry After Drug Baron Accuses Security Agencies Of Drug Trafficking

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Mar 2, (CMC) – The Guyana government says, it will establish a Board of Inquiry to investigate claims of corruption, made by self-confessed drug baron, Barry Dataram, on television, against several security agencies.

President David Granger, said, today, the decision to establish the Board was taken by the National Security Committee, yesterday.

Dataram told television viewers, that senior officials at the Customs and Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) were involved in the cocaine trade, with one unnamed agent raking in as much as GUY$10 million (One Guyana dollar =US$0.004 cents) to allow cocaine to leave the country.

“CANU, them is the most corrupted, rogue security force in this country. They are the biggest drug dealer this country has. The same drug that they seize, half of it goes back on the street,” he said on HGPTV Channel 67’s Nightly News.

CANU has since denied the allegations, calling on the drug kingpin to make the statements under oath. Dataram is now before the courts on a 225 pound cocaine bust. He is also wanted by United States law enforcement authorities on drug trafficking offences.

Granger said, that the “Board of Inquiry will be convened under an officer to be named” and that the “inquiry will determine (the) veracity of information published in newspapers”.

He said, that the Officer will be named and the Terms of Reference will be set and given to the investigators at a later date.

“We will deal with the culpable in a way that we always deal with the culpable. We expect due process….we expect that the person, after proper investigation, is put before the courts….we are not prosecuting anybody, but we just want to know the facts,” said President Granger.