The Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU) seized an estimated $433,973,770 worth of illicit drugs in 2025, with cocaine and cannabis remaining the two dominant threats and accounting for the vast majority of trafficking attempts into and through the country.
In its 2025 overview, CANU reported total seizures of 235.9 kilogrammes of cocaine, 726.3 kilogrammes of cannabis, 674 grammes of ecstasy, 83 grammes of methamphetamine, and 9.16 grammes of cannabis products.
Although cocaine remained a major concern, CANU said there was a major reduction in cocaine quantities compared to 2024, and linked that decline to a single extraordinary seizure that occurred in Region One in the previous year, which significantly inflated the 2024 figures.
CANU also outlined regional patterns showing that Region Four recorded the highest cocaine seizures at 172.8 kilogrammes, while Region Six recorded the highest cannabis volume at 576 kilogrammes.
While synthetic drugs were intercepted in relatively small amounts, CANU warned that they are appearing in small but increasing quantities, prompting continued monitoring through the agency’s Early Warning System.
On the enforcement side, CANU said it made 117 arrests in 2025 and charged 62 persons, and noted that approximately 82 per cent of those arrested were male, a trend it said is consistent with global drug-crime patterns.
The agency identified April, May, July and September as the months with the highest number of arrests.
In the courts, CANU reported that a total of 29 drug-related convictions were secured during the year, including 14 convictions for cocaine, 12 for cannabis, and three combined convictions for synthetic drugs, including ecstasy and cannabis products.
The agency said fines reached as high as $311 million, while sentences extended up to four years, depending on the quantity involved and whether the matter was treated as trafficking-related.
CANU estimated the street value of all drugs seized in 2025 at $433,973,770, with cocaine accounting for $235.9 million and cannabis accounting for $197.7 million, while ecstasy and methamphetamine represented less than one per cent combined.
The agency said cocaine and cannabis seizures accounted for more than 99 per cent of the total street value, highlighting that these drugs continue to dominate Guyana’s trafficking landscape even as synthetic substances begin to emerge more frequently.
