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CANU torches over $1B in cocaine and ganja Nov 09, 2025 News — Minister says Guyana is not a place for drugs business (Kaieteur News) – The Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) on Saturday morning destroyed more than $1 billion worth of cocaine and marijuana, sending a fiery message to traffickers that Guyana is not open for the drug trade. The drugs, seized over several months during major operations across the country, were set ablaze in a vacant lot along Homestretch Avenue, Georgetown, in the presence of Home Affairs Minister Oneidge Walrond, CANU Director James Singh, and members of the media. Minister Walrond told reporters that the destruction of the narcotics represents hundreds of millions of dollars “going up in smoke”, a clear warning to drug traffickers and transshipment networks. “It sends a strong signal to traffickers most of these drugs were meant for transshipment that Guyana is not the place to do drugs business,” the Minister declared. “We will seize and destroy. Guyana will not be used as a transshipment point.” She noted that all of the drugs destroyed are from cases that have already passed through the court. They were tested before being transported from CANU headquarters to the vacant lot. CANU’s Director, James Singh, said the burned narcotics included large cocaine shipments and marijuana consignments intercepted en route to Europe, West Africa, and the Caribbean. “The value exceeds a billion dollars,” Singh said, noting that local enforcement continues to deliver major blows to international trafficking networks, despite Guyana’s “porous borders.” “The marijuana was going to different parts of the Caribbean and some of the cocaine was destined for West Africa, so the price varies according to specific countries,” he detailed. The CANU director added that the dent on the drug trade shows that despite Guyana is labeled as a country with pourous borders, local law enforcement is still able to intercept the drugs when it enters the country and also prevent it from being transhipped to other countries. One example He gave is a Seizure of 32 Kilogrammes of cocaine at Parika, East Bank Essequibo involving a foreign national and a Guyanese. “We have seizures in Lethem, we have had seizures in Berbice, so thanks to the press to putting it out there”, Singh told the press. In its 2025 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR), the US Department of State noted that in 2024, Guyana seized more than four metric tons (MT) of cocaine, in cooperation with US law enforcement, at an airstrip near its border with Venezuela – the largest drug seizure in Guyana’s history – and interdicted one semi-submersible off Guyana’s coast with 2.3 MT of cocaine. “Despite growing oil wealth and the government’s increased efforts, the public sector – including law enforcement and customs officials – remains underpaid. Coupled with a lack of adequate resources and shortcomings in the legal system, this allows traffickers to exploit government systems and move illicit drugs through Guyana,” the report stated. The US Department of State said that the government can fight drug trafficking by enhancing law enforcement and customs capability through port security improvements, intelligence operations with regional and international partners, implementing stronger anti-corruption measures, and strengthening its legislation relating to drug trafficking sentencing, to make it less attractive. The report noted that as a matter of policy, the Government of Guyana does not encourage or facilitate the illicit production or distribution of narcotics, psychotropic drugs, or other controlled substances, or the laundering of proceeds from illegal drug transactions. However, the US said corruption in Guyana poses a significant obstacle to its efforts to combat drug trafficking. “Corruption within law enforcement, bribery, and nepotism in the public sector and political entities further complicate the fight against drug trafficking,” the US report stated. The report added: “Authorities often drop charges or never file them and do not conduct serious investigations; traffickers are able to evade prosecution. Additionally, the economic appeal of the drug trade in Guyana, with its high poverty rate and low-paying public sector jobs, leads individuals to become involved in illicit activities and hinders efforts to curb trafficking. In two separate incidents in July, four GDF officers were charged with trafficking a total of 213 kilograms of cannabis. “ The report said that marijuana is the most used and produced drug in Guyana, and the country remains a major transhipment point for cocaine trafficking. In 2024, the United States and Guyana’s Joint Interagency Task Force, including its Defense Force (GDF), collaborated to seize 4.4 MT of cocaine worth approximately $195,000,000 – the country’s largest ever drug seizure – and the interception of a self-propelled semi- submersible (SPSS) approximately 150 miles off the coast of Guyana with 2.3 MT of cocaine. Authorities also found a low-profile vessel (LPV), empty and abandoned, in the waterways near Port Kaituma, near the Venezuelan border. As of October, no arrests had been made, and the investigation was ongoing. These two events resulted in a huge increase in cocaine seizures for the period of January through September 2024 – 6,700 kilograms (kg) versus 62 kg for the same period in 2023. Marijuana seizures for 2024 totalled 1.4 MT, versus 1.1 MT for the same period in 2023. Methamphetamine was a distant third for quantity of drugs seized in 2024 (.06 kg). CANU, cocaine, drug trade, ganja, torches
