The cocaine was reportedly about to be loaded on to an EZjet flight (PHOTO: Capitol News)

GEORGETOWN, Apr. 26, CMC – Guyanese customs agents early Thursday seized a bag of cocaine and detained ground staff at Cheddi Jagan International Airport as the narcotic was about to be loaded on to a Guyanese charter flight bound for New York, the Demerara Waves news website reported.

Quoting airport sources, Demerara Waves said that around 5.30 a.m. (9.30 GMT) a bag containing four kilogrammes of cocaine was found with luggage that was about to placed on an aircraft of the Guyanese charter airline, EZjet.

The website said five baggage handlers employed by Timehri Handling Services were being detained by the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU).

It is the second seizure of cocaine at Guyana’s national airport at Timehri, 41 kilometres (25 miles) south of here. On March 11 found 10 kilogrammes of cocaine in two bags that had been thrown over an airport fence.

The four-month-old EZjet, which is owned by a Guyanese-American investor, operates a Boeing 737 jet charter service between Cheddi Jagan airport and the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.