The west of Suriname currently appears to be an essential link on the route of the international cocaine trade. After more than two tons of cocaine were seized last week in a warehouse in the Nickerie district, a shipment of 593 kilos appears to have also been brought in from Nickerie.
SLM
Last Wednesday, this 593 kilos was found in an Airbus A340 of Surinam Airways. Surinamese media now report that the police believe this cocaine was delivered to the international airport by a freight company that delivers packages to the Netherlands. It ended up in an SLM warehouse at the airport.
The drugs were then hidden in 17 boxes in a technical room at the bottom of the cockpit. While the plane was about to leave for Amsterdam, the cocaine was discovered.
Police officer
A Surinamese police officer has been arrested in connection with the cocaine that was found in Nickerie last week, and the police are looking for three men.
The west of Suriname has been the main area where cocaine enters Suriname since the 1990s. Airplanes from Colombia and Brazil landed on deserted roads in the vast rice plantations.
Special units
In recent years, the route via West Suriname seems to be very popular again with cocaine traffickers. In September last year, an illegal airstrip was dismantled by the Judicial Intervention Team (JIT). Special units of the Surinamese police regularly carry out actions in the interior of West Suriname, such as in March 2022 when a group of heavily armed men were arrested.
In 2019, the body of Nitender Oemrawsingh was found in neighboring Guyana shortly after police in Suriname seized 2.3 tons of cocaine.
