Questions are being asked as to why authorities at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri did not detect the illegal drugs allegedly concealed in the luggage of former Miss Guyana/Universe 2002, Mia Rahaman.
Rahaman was nabbed at the Pearson International Airport in Toronto with a reported seven kilogrammes of cocaine on Wednesday morning after departing Guyana on an Air Transat Flight.
The cocaine was allegedly found in a suitcase that had a false bottom and sides. Several persons say local authorities should have detected the drugs and they feel that something went wrong at the airport.
Both the police and the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) have officials at the airport and their main mission is to intercept anyone who attempts to leave Guyana with any illegal substance. Also, the airport has its own security officers.
Stabroek News spoke to senior officials from both the police and CANU and they said that investigations had been launched.
The police official pointed out that his officers would not be able to detect drugs on passengers all the time.
The CANU official said his organisation had mounted an investigation to find out what went wrong and to determine if there was “any collusion or slackness.”
Stabroek News also contacted a senior official at the airport and he stated that the airport security was only responsible for the scanning of handbags and other luggage.
He explained that their primary focus was on detecting explosives or weapons and if in the process they came across any illegal substance the passenger would be handed over to the police or CANU officials.
Questions have been raised as to whether the scanners at the airport were functioning properly. The official admitted that the scanners were old and that three new ones were expected under an Inter-American Development Bank loan.
He added that if the scanners were malfunctioning then the airline employees were expected to do manual searches of the luggage.
Rahaman has since appeared in court and was placed on Cdn$5,000 bail (around $7M) plus Cdn$20,000 surety. She is expected to reappear in court on June 13.