US$35M COCAINE BUST

AN estimated US$35 million in cocaine was seized from a Liberian-flagged cargo vessel which was docked in Trinidad two months ago. Vietnamese police described it as the largest drug seizure in the history of a Vietnamese province.

The Vietnamese media reported that the vessel, the Maersk Shenzhen, arrived at the Tan Cang Meop-Thi Vai Port in the southeast province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau, where it “aroused suspicion” among customs officials.

When they searched the ship they found the drugs packaged and hidden among a shipment of scrap metal purchased from a Singapore scrap metal company. Reports indicated the documents provided by the shipment’s owner did not match those of the seal on the container.

Newsday understands the cargo was bought by the Vietnamese steel company Pomina Steel Joint Stock Company, which has since distanced itself from the find through its chairman who has denied the company knew the drugs were aboard.
The ship docked in Trinidad two months ago before leaving for Panama, China and eventually Vietnam.

A senior officer in the Organised Crime and Intelligence Unit (OCIU) yesterday confirmed that this unit and the Transnational Organised Crime Unit (TOCU) will be making follow-up inquiries locally into a drug bust aboard a ship in Vietnam which reportedly began its journey in TT.

The officer said while the bust took place well outside TT, local authorities were mandated to make investigations at the port where the vessel was docked to determine the extent of local involvement. She said the OCIU and the the TOCU intended to “work backwards” by reviewing documents and footage of the port where the vessel was docked.

She said reports of drugs being shipped to Asia from TT were unheard of, and most drugs loaded in TT were destined for the US and Europe via Africa.
This has prompted the intelligence unit to look at the possibility of drugs entering Asia from TT.
Despite TT’s reputation as a major transshipment hub for narcotics, the officer doubted the drugs were loaded in TT and believed they may have been loaded in Panama.

“Traffickers tend to want to limit the amount of obstructions and checks to be made from their source to their final port, so it’s hard to say, but I don’t think it (the cocaine) would be brought to TT just to go back out on a ship.”

No Trinidadians were believed to be aboard the vessel. The report said that Vietnam has one of the toughest anti-drug laws in the world and those convicted of trafficking are likely to be executed.

Newsday also spoke to chairman of the Port Authority Col Lyle Alexander, who said he was unaware of the incident, but intended to make his own inquiries into the specifics of the port where the ship was docked.

Newsday tried to contact National Security Minister Edmund Dillon for confirmation on whether Vietnamese authorities have reached out to TT for assistance in investigations, but was unsuccessful.

In April it was reported that TT had received four cargo scanners for installation at the Port of Port of Spain, but a sitting of a parliamentary special select committee in June revealed the scanners were not working and were awaiting “additional infrastructure” to support the technology.

During this sitting, acting Comptroller of the Customs and Excise Division Kathy-Ann Matthews said she believed drugs were being trafficked through legal ports in TT.