PARAMARIBO--Police say they have arrested two Customs officers in connection with the 978 kilograms of cocaine that was caught last week at Nieuwe Haven, the harbour complex in the capital of Paramaribo.

 

A press release from the Police Public Relations (PR) department stated on Thursday that both officers are women.

 

Eleven people have been arrested so far in this case; eight men and three women – among them the two Customs officers; the third woman also works at the harbour as an import specialist. The release said that of the 11 initial suspects, one has been released after interrogation.

 

One of the 10 remaining suspects – Vinos A. – is a Dutch national. Police said they are hunting one last suspect; an arrest warrant has been issued for Curtis Paulna, a 32-year-old Suriname national who is suspected of “taking part in the criminal organisation” that attempted to smuggle the drugs through Nieuwe Haven.

 

The two officers whose names have not been released, had both been deployed to the section that monitors departing shipments at the harbour. Police Commissioner Guno Roossenhoff said that while they are still figuring out the exact role the Customs officers played, the Prosecutor’s Office gave green light to take them into custody. “This allows us time to find out clearly whether they were involved or just negligent,” said Roossenhoff.

 

The coke shipment that was confiscated on the night of February 7, is likely the largest coke shipment ever caught at Nieuwe Haven. One man, Michel S., a 38-year-old a forklift driver, was the first to be arrested that night. Harbour security spotted him after work hours on Monday night, moving containers around; upon closer inspection of what he was doing, they found the narcotics stashed in dozens of bags that were hidden inside containers bound for a destination in Europe.