GEORGETOWN – Senior Superintendent Himnauth Sawh is not going down quietly. The former Regional Commander for Division One has launched a fierce counter-offensive to restore his name, after being slapped onto the United States’ Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) blacklist, a designation usually reserved for high-level criminal players.
Sawh says the U.S. ‘got it wrong. Very wrong’. His legal team has now fired off a formal petition to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), demanding that Washington reverse what he calls a deeply damaging and baseless attack on his character.
Fresh evidence has been allegedly submitted, and Sawh insists the new material “destroys” the foundation of the allegation. “This is a stain I refuse to wear,” the longtime police officer has declared publicly. At the center of the controversy is the major cocaine plane bust at Matthew’s Ridge on September 1, 2024, one of the largest, most sensitive drug-trafficking investigations of recent years.
Sawh says he was not in the loop, not in the plot, and certainly not among the beneficiaries. He claims he only rushed into the remote jungle site after hearing that CANU was already conducting the raid. By the time he arrived, top brass from the Guyana Defence Force, the Minister of Home Affairs, and even a U.S. DEA official were already on the ground.
He says the DEA grilled him aggressively about the secret airstrip, the shipment of cocaine, and two police officers believed to be linked to the operation. Sawh says he told investigators everything he knew, including confirming that at least one of those officers had left Guyana for the United States days earlier. “How can I direct a conspiracy when the people I’m accused of directing weren’t even in the country?” he asked.
Sawh also points to his own record: years of sharing narcotics intelligence with CANU, including reports on a semi-submersible vessel and a go-fast boat tied to regional drug networks earlier this year. He maintains he has never protected rogue ranks, never facilitated traffickers, and never once turned a blind eye in exchange for favors.
Now he is fighting not just for his job, but for his legacy. “This has cost me honour, dignity, and decades of hard-earned trust,” he said. “I will clear my name.”
