Gerry Brooks, chief operating officer of the ANSA McAL group, says the recent seizure of $644 million worth of cocaine in Virginia has hurt T&T's name internationally.And he has called on the local law enforcement authorities to stifle the drug trade, saying it will continue to taint the country's image if they do not stamp it out."Today, brand T&T is at risk!" Brooks said at ANSA Coatings Limited's annual awards and dinner at the Hyatt Regency, Trinidad, Port-of-Spain, on Thursday.
"The recent cocaine haul attacked one of T&T premier brands. Any significant exporter can be attacked. This is not the first assault on a legacy brand but we must ensure it is the last."
Brooks was referring to the seizure by officers of the US Customs and Border of the illegal drugs, which were concealed in more than 700 tins of Trinidad Juice, a product of the Citrus Growers' Association, at the Port of Norfolk on December 20. The container holding the cargo left the Port of Port-of-Spain on November 17 and was exported by a local company which has been defunct for years but is apparently being used by a transnational drug smuggling ring as a front.
Officers from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) are currently in T&T trying to wrap up the loose ends in the case.Referring to the impact of the negative publicity the case has brought, Brooks said: "We are ranked 92 of 148 countries on the competitiveness index. The taint of narco-trafficking, even if unfounded, can destroy a brand in days, when 50-100 years has been invested to build the brand.
"We need in T&T to stop the talk and make arrests and prosecute the cases successfully. We need to stop the old talk. We need to prosecute the cases successfully and rigorously." He said: "The taint of narco-trafficking can further compromise our competitiveness ranking and may exponentially increase the cost and bureaucracy of market entry into key export markets.
"It can also damage the reputation of our brands, companies and country at a time when local manufacturing have invested billions of dollars in retooling plant and equipment."He said it was also imperative that when criminals steal a company's brand and create counterfeit products, the real products are pulled off the market.
He gave the audience a case in ANSA McAL group, where their matches product was being counterfeited and redistributed as authentic. He said quick work by customs personnel eventually helped solve the case.It is vitally important, he added, that products with improper labelling which do not meet local requirements get pulled off the shelves, because should there be another occurrence like the Virginia bust in the US again, T&T products may not be allowed to enter that territory.
"There has to be a zero tolerance policy. Failure to do that will cripple local manufacturers and will render jobless thousands of workers employed in the manufacturing sector," he said.