See below for a statement from DDL on the recent discovery of cocaine in a container with its rum in the Netherlands:
Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL) is convinced that the various checks and balances executed in Guyana, including its own security mechanisms employed during the stuffing of containers with its product at its Diamond plant, would have detected any illegal substances.
DDL has always been and remains committed to ensuring that its reputable image and that of its internationally acclaimed Demerara brands of rum, which only recently won Geographic Indication (GI) recognition in Europe, is never compromised. DDL is therefore disappointed with the contamination of a recent shipment of its product to the Netherlands.
DDL is concerned that international shipping routes which necessitate transshipment through certain other countries now present a growing lack of confidence in transshipment
arrangements and hopes that more effective security and detection measures would be
implemented so as to prevent contamination of shipments that threaten the credibility of
reputable companies and their products which earn significant foreign exchange for the nation.
DDL’s rigid commitment to protection of its unblemished image and that of its supply chain and its products is demonstrated in the fact that the recent discovery of the contamination of its container was made by staff of its contracted bonded warehouse who immediately called in the relevant law enforcement agencies in the Netherlands, following which DDL informed the Guyana Revenue Authority’s (GRA) Customs officials. CANU was subsequently informed by both the Netherlands authorities and the GRA.
Further evidence of DDL’s commitment to protection of its shipments against contamination and international recognition of this commitment is the fact that the authorities in the Netherlands released the shipment to DDL’s control once the illegal substance was removed later the same day of the discovery.
