Police claim relative success in counter-narcotic efforts
--- inspite of constraints
Guyana Chronicle
March 13, 2004
Guyana has recorded relative success in its efforts to contain illicit drug trafficking and stem the use of its territory as a transshipment point for the distribution of cocaine powder and/or crack cocaine in the country or the shipment of the drug to Europe and North America.
So says the Guyana Police Force, which has been leading the battle against drug lords especially since Guyana signed the United Nations Vienna Convention on the Control of Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances in 1988.
In spite of its limited resources, specialized police units seized a total of 226 kilograms, 965 grams of cocaine at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri, during 2003, in the process arresting 14 Guyanese nationals and eleven foreigners.
The Guyana Police Force pointed out in a press release yesterday that in addition to seizures at the airport, members of Police Force seized a total of 8kg 347 grams of cocaine and charged 80 persons for related offences during 2003.
Also, for the same period, they destroyed 35 acres of cannabis cultivation, charged eleven persons with cultivation of the drug, and seized 378 kg, 577 grams of herbal cannabis for which 365 persons were charged.
The statement by the police came on the heels of a report by the U.S. State Department that referred to Guyana as a transshipment point for South American cocaine destined for North America and Europe, and to its "ineffective drug interdiction capability" making the country "a relatively safe route for cocaine trafficking from South America to the U.S. and Europe."
But the report also acknowledged that Government's counternarcotic efforts were undermined by the lack of adequate resources for law enforcement and particularly in the "first half of 2003 by a political stalemate and a critical crime threat, some of which was reportedly linked to drug trafficking activities."
CANU has had the same authority to enforce counternarcotic efforts with the amendment of the relevant legislation in 1999 and Guyana also enacted the Money Laundering (Prevention) Act in 2002, along with several other initiatives to enhance drug prevention and rehabilitation, including collaboration with international government and non-governmental organizations the release added.
The Drug Abuse Resistant Education (DARE) Programme is also another venture by the Police.
Added the police statement: "CANU is a relatively young organization with which the Police Force has been fostering an alignment in the fight against illicit drugs. The Guyana Police Force has been focusing on supply reduction with a number of agencies, particularly CANU.
"The Guyana Police Force also assisted several foreign law enforcement agencies with intelligence and conducting drug investigations and has also provided information that led to cocaine seizures in foreign countries."
The release pointed to information from the Force motivating the search of a container of rice intended for Ghana shipped from Guyana, in which 44 kilograms of cocaine were seized in the United Kingdom, and noted that the Police Force assisted the United Kingdom Customs (UK Customs) in developing intelligence on a foreign drug trafficking group prior to the arrests of its senior members 120 kilograms of cocaine were seized in the United Kingdom in a shipment of lumber from Guyana. The Police further assisted UK Customs with related investigations in Guyana the release stated.
"Given our vast unprotected borders and air space, coupled with the limited resources, successes achieved by the Guyana Police Force in the fight against illicit narcotics are significant, especially when compared with the high-tech equipment and other resources available to law enforcement agencies in developed countries," the Police statement noted.
"The Guyana Police Force will continue to collaborate with local and foreign agencies, especially CANU, in combating this scourge in Guyana," the release concluded.