PRESS RELEASE
GUYANA POLICE FORCE'S RESPONSE
TO DRUG TRAFFICING
IN GUYANA
Guyana's Anti-Narcotic strategy commenced in
1988 with the signing of the 1988 United
Nation Vienna Convention on control of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic
Substances
and its ratification by the enactment of "The Narcotic Drugs
and Psychotropic Substances
(Control) Act 1988." This act was amended to give the Customs
Anti-Narcotics Unit
(CANU) the same authority to enforce it, as the Guyana Police
Force. Guyana also
enacted the Money Laundering (Prevention) Act in 2002, and has
taken several initiatives
towards drug prevention and rehabilitation. Those activities include
collaboration with
international government and non-governmental organizations as
well as local ones. The
Drug Abuse Resistant Education (DARE) Programme delivered by the
Police is one such
prevention activity.
CANU is a relatively young organization with which the Police
Force has been fostering
an alignment towards 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 has specialized units deployed strategically
to address this
problem as a result of which a total of 226 kilograms 965 grams
of Cocaine was seized at
the Cheddi lagan International Airport, Timehri, during 2003.
Fourteen Guyanese
Nationals and 11 foreigners were arrested at the Airport. The
conclusion that more
foreigners than Guyanese were arrested is therefore inaccurate.
In addition to seizures made at the airport, members from the
Guyana Police Force have
seized a total of 8 kg 347 grams of Cocaine and charged 80 persons
for related offences
during 2003. They have also, for the same period, destroyed 35
acres of cannabis,
charged 11 persons with cultivation of the drug, and seized 378
kg 577 grams of herbal
cannabis for which 365 persons were charged.
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. Examples are:
(a) Information provided by members of the Guyana Police Force
motivated the
search of a container of rice intended for Ghana having been shipped
from
Guyana, in which 44 kilograms of cocaine was seized in the United
Kingdom.
This matter, in addition to being investigated overseas, was investigated
by
the Guyana Police Force and is still in progress.
(b) The Guyana 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 after 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 Guyana Police Force participates in formulating Regional strategies
to combat drug
trafficking both at the level of Drug Squad Commanders and the
Association of
Caribbean Commissioners of Police. Members of the Drug Enforcement
Agency (DEA)
Caribbean Field Division along with members of other Law Enforcement
Agencies in the
United States and other countries participate fully in those processes
as well as in the
implementation of those strategies. Resulting from such strategies
is the sharing of
information on drugs among Law Enforcement Agencies in the Region
and to which the
Guyana Police Force is linked to Regional Law Enforcement training.
The Guyana Police
Force and other local agencies participate.
Given our vast unprotected borders and airspace coupled with the
limited resources,
success achieved by the Guyana Police Force in the fight against
illicit narcotics are
significant especially when compared with high-tech equipment
and other resources
available to Law Enforcement agencies in developed countries.
The Guyana Police Force will continue to collaborate with local
and foreign agencies
especially CANU in combating this scourge in Guyana
TOP
Saturday,
March 13, 2004