—importer’s request to return shipment remains unresolved
Surinamese authorities have begun unloading a seized shipment of 384.8 tonnes of Guyanese rice under police guard, while the importer seeks permission to return the cargo to Guyana.
Starnieuws reported on Saturday that 60 of the shipment’s 282 large bags were removed from the MV Falk on Friday and transferred to storage facilities belonging to Food and Agriculture Industries in Nickerie. Unloading at the Nieuw-Nickerie port is scheduled to resume today.
The development follows a letter from businessman Bhagwatpersad Ramadhin asking Customs to withdraw his import document and permit the vessel to return to Guyana. The letter, received on October 9, cited mounting costs and the absence of permission from Suriname’s agriculture ministry.
Ramadhin stated in the letter that a judge had authorised the vessel’s departure at an October 8 hearing. However, Starnieuws reported that the proceedings ended after he withdrew his case, without a substantive ruling or permission for the vessel to leave with the cargo.
The State’s lawyer, Deepak Jairam, had opposed the vessel’s departure, citing alleged breaches of import requirements.
Ramadhin had challenged the authorities’ intervention in court but subsequently withdrew the proceedings as costs continued to accumulate. An October 8 report carried by Suriname Nieuwssaid his lawyer estimated vessel costs at approximately US$35,000 and explained that uncertainty over the time needed to complete the agriculture ministry’s investigation had influenced the decision.
The lawyer also said the broken rice was intended for the poultry sector.
The dispute arose after the shipment arrived from Guyana for the B. Ramadhin Rice Factory in Nickerie. Agriculture Minister Mike Noersalim told Starnieuws that the importer had failed to obtain the required advance approval from his ministry.
According to Noersalim, part of the rice had already been cleared by Customs and removed from the port before the missing approval was identified. That portion was subsequently ordered returned.
The shipment carried a phytosanitary certificate issued by Guyana’s National Plant Protection Organisation on September 29. Noersalim said, however, that certification from the exporting country did not replace the prior authorisation required by Suriname.
The latest report indicates that the cargo remains under the control of the Surinamese authorities, with the importer’s request for its return unresolved.
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