Seizure of Rs 95 million in drugs: Sergeant Jayesh Gungadin duped by his informant

It’s a relationship of trust that would have turned into a trap. Sergeant Jayesh Gungadin (33), a well-known figure in criminal intelligence and Officer In Charge of the Port's Divisional Crime Intelligence Unit (DCIU), today finds himself in turmoil. The investigation by the Anti-Drug and Smuggling Unit (ADSU) of Grand-Baie suspects him of having communicated confidential information to the person he considered to be one of his informants. However, this man is now presented by investigators not as a simple source, but as an alleged drug trafficker at the heart of a major criminal network.

For months, Sattya Mitra Anand Gujadhur maintained a privileged relationship with Sergeant Jayesh Gungadin. Operator of a car wash center, he regularly provided him with information. But investigators now believe that this alleged indicator was playing a double game. Behind his role as a police source, he himself would be involved in drug trafficking. According to the ADSU, part of the 62.5 kilos of cannabis seized at Plaisance airport on June 4, for an estimated value of Rs 94.5 million, was intended for him. He is also suspected of maintaining links with Mandish Cahoolessur, presented as the alleged sponsor of this importation.

The affair broke out after the interception of Dharmadeo Vishal Chotoree and Arvind Roomharshan Padaruth upon their arrival from England. Customs officers discovered dozens of packages of cannabis in their luggage. A monitored delivery operation is immediately triggered in order to trace the load to the recipients.

During the investigations, investigators discovered that Sattya Mitra Anand Gujadhur was also at the airport that morning.

Noticing that the two travelers were being detained by the authorities, he immediately requested his contact within the police, Sergeant Jayesh Gungadin. Trusting his informant, the police officer allegedly undertook checks with a member of the anti-drug services before learning that the two men had just been arrested with a large quantity of cannabis.

It is this sensitive information that he is now suspected of having transmitted to his informer. Investigators believe that the latter was primarily looking to find out if the dragnet had compromised his own network. The telephone records collected by the ADSU would show communications between the two men at the crucial moment of the operation.

The investigation thus reveals an embarrassing scenario for the police officer, that of a seasoned investigator who would have been manipulated by the very man supposed to support his investigations. This relationship of trust, long perceived as an asset in the collection of intelligence, could today have been transformed into a flaw allowing the leak of information