{"id":25890,"date":"2025-02-01T18:27:24","date_gmt":"2025-02-01T18:27:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/?p=25890"},"modified":"2025-02-01T18:27:25","modified_gmt":"2025-02-01T18:27:25","slug":"significant-increase-in-canu-seizures-of-drugs-and-firearms-in-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/significant-increase-in-canu-seizures-of-drugs-and-firearms-in-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Significant Increase in CANU Seizures of Drugs and Firearms in 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n\n<p><em>By Nakasia Logan<\/em><br><em>December 18, 2024<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) has reported a dramatic surge in the seizure of drugs, firearms, and ammunition in 2024, marking a significant boost in the agency&#8217;s operational success compared to 2023. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This increase reflects CANU&#8217;s intensified efforts to combat drug trafficking and firearm-related crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2024, CANU seized 5,094 kg of cocaine, with an estimated street value of 2.5 billion Guyana dollars, a staggering increase from the 75.1 kg seized in 2023, valued at 37.5 million dollars. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This represents a more than 60-fold increase in the volume of cocaine intercepted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the most notable seizures occurred in early September during a joint raid that led to the dismantling of a major drug trafficking operation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over four tonnes of cocaine, valued at 176 million Euros, were confiscated, marking one of the largest seizures in the history of Guyana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Minister of Home Affairs, Robeson Benn, attributed CANU&#8217;s success to the hard work, commitment, and the government&#8217;s focus on addressing drug trafficking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He emphasized that while progress has been made, the fight against this illegal activity is ongoing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cannabis seizures also saw a notable rise, with 1,598.8 kg confiscated in 2024, valued at 479.6 million dollars, compared to 1,288.2 kg in 2023, valued at 386 million dollars. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Additionally, methamphetamine, which was not reported in 2023, was added to the list of seized substances, with CANU confiscating 0.056 kg valued at 28,000 dollars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The total value of drug seizures for 2024 reached 7.6 billion dollars, a significant increase from 1.1 billion in 2023, marking a rise of over 6.4 billion dollars. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the fight against illegal firearms, CANU recovered 23 firearms in 2024, compared to 8 in 2023. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These included shotguns, pistols, submachine guns, and rifles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, ammunition seizures saw a decline, with 290 rounds recovered in 2024 compared to 1,511 rounds in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>CANU Director James Singh highlighted the importance of international collaboration, noting that intelligence-sharing and joint operations with international partners, such as the DEA, have been crucial to the agency&#8217;s success. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>CANU&#8217;s strengthened interdiction capabilities are expected to continue into 2025 as the agency works to protect Guyana&#8217;s borders from transnational drug trafficking and firearm smuggling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Nakasia LoganDecember 18, 2024 The Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) has reported a dramatic surge in the seizure of drugs, firearms, and ammunition in 2024, marking a significant boost in&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":24037,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[363,350],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-transformation","category-news"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25890"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25890\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25891,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25890\/revisions\/25891"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}