GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Nov 6, CMC – Police Thursday said that a Colombian national, who along with three other people, including a serving Guyana police officer, have been sanctioned by the United States on drug related activities, has been arrested here.
In a statement, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) said that Yeison Andres Sanchez Vallejo was arrested while travelling in a bus heading to Lethem, a border town in southern Guyana, located in the Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo region.
The police said that he was intercepted on Tuesday at the Kurupukari police checkpoint as part of routine security screening procedures. They said that during the process, a passenger – later identified as a 33-year-old Colombian national – was found to be in possession of a passport bearing the immigration stamp “RLL” (Refused Leave to Land).
“Subsequent checks revealed that the individual, identified as Yeison Andres Sanchez Vallejo is reportedly among persons sanctioned by the United States of America in relation to drug trafficking activities,” the PF said.
Police said he was immediately arrested and is presently assisting their investigators.
Vallejo along with Senior Superintendent Himnauth Sawh, Guyanese Paul “Randell” Daby Jr ; former policeman Mark “Demon” Cromwell, Guyanese-Venezuelan Randolph “Rudolph” Duncan, and another Colombian Manuel Gutierrez Salazar were sanctioned by the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for their alleged role in narco-trafficking.
Sawh was the Commander for Region One (Barima-Waini) last September when a joint operation by the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) and the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) unearthed 4.4 tonnes of cocaine buried underground near an illegal airstrip on the outskirts of Mabaruma in late August, 2024.
Sawh remains on leave.
CMC/gt/ir/2025