President Santokhi with his wife Melissa Santokhi.
PARAMARIBO--When authorities in the Netherlands found a cocaine shipment in the KLM aircraft that Suriname’s First Lady Mellisa Santokhi travelled to the Netherlands in, on September 12, the media seemed quick to make it seem like she had been involved. Suriname’s government didn’t waste any time explaining, but instead took the higher road of calling on journalists to quit suggestive reporting. “We hope the article was not meant to intentionally create a certain atmosphere,” government wrote in a press release on Sunday.
The 20-kilogram cocaine shipment was found in Amsterdam on Saturday, September 12, when the flight from Suriname arrived at Schiphol International Airport. The narcotics were found in the cargo compartment of the aircraft and were immediately confiscated. An investigation is ongoing, authorities have reported.
While there did not seem to be a link to the first lady, who had travelled on the flight as a regular passenger, Surinamese daily newspaper De Ware Tijd nonetheless reported the story as if there was one, with its front page headline “Cocaine in aircraft First Lady Santokhi”.
“To be able to hide cocaine where they found it, you have to first remove the plates from the inside of the hull. What is puzzling is how they were able to get so much drugs past the inspection at the Johan Adolf Airport in Suriname,” the newspaper quoted a source as saying, hinting contradictory to its suggestive headline that this same “highly placed source” does not see a connection with the first lady and government. “This could have happened on any random flight. It just so happens that the first lady was on board this one.”
Government obviously took offence. “[The story – Ed.] doesn’t actually do what it says on the tin. The article headline creates the saddening suggestion that there is a link between the first lady and the drugs,” the press release charges, calling on the media to try to “apply meticulousness to their reporting.”
A lawyer by profession, First Lady Santokhi married President Chandrikapersad Santokhi shortly after he was elected to the highest office in June. The two had been a couple for years.
The first lady is on a private visit to the Netherlands. She has meanwhile on September 15 visited with Mayor Erik Boog of Diemen – close to Amsterdam – which has prompted its own controversy. In a letter to the mayor, Senior Citizens’ Party Diemen asked why he had welcomed Santhoki to the city town hall only two days after her arrival, when she should have gone into quarantine for 10 days, as is required of all visitors from Suriname. The first lady has also had meetings with several representatives of companies in the Netherlands.
