As Guyanese mules continue to be held abroad and a family was recently granted asylum in Canada because of threats from a drug lord, the government’s much-vaunted drug master plan which promised witness protection and other innovations has barely inched out of the starting blocks.
Last month a Guyanese family of three was granted refugee status in Canada under the Canadian Immigra-tion and Protection Act after arguing that the police here provided no protection when they had been threatened by a drug lord. The decision handed down on September 28, 2007 in Toronto, Canada, by AC Knevel, the tribunal judge acting on behalf of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada said they were accepted as refugees under the UN Convention based on their claims. The case was heard on September 21. The family was represented by Guyanese immigration barrister and solicitor living and working in Canada, Balwant Persaud who had told Stabroek News from Toronto that the family fled Guyana after the head of the family, a former wharf manager of a leading shipping company, was asked to turn a blind eye to shipments of mainly rice, concealing narcotics destined for Europe. Several shipments of products from Guyana – including rice and timber – have been held abroad after cocaine was found hidden in them. Several shipments have also been found at wharves here.
In recent months there have also been several cases where drugs have transited through the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri without being detected by security apparatus. Heroin was also recently found on a passenger who left Timehri. In addition, high-profile drug accused have evaded capture here and the US, in particular, has expressed concern over the quality of the drug fight.
Meanwhile, Two years after the $650M drug master plan was unveiled by President Bharrat Jagdeo little or nothing has been done to have it implemented. Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee said that they have appointed, Crime Specialist, Errol Vannooten as the co-coordinator of the National Anti-Narcotics Coordinating Secretariat (NANCOS), the unit responsible for pushing the strategy ahead. Contacted last week for a comment on his work so far Vannooten said that he could not speak to the press without consent from Rohee. The minister has since been unavailable to this newspaper.
Rohee had promised earlier this year that some of the measures outlined in the strategy were being put in place, although admitting that little progress has been made with respect to implementing the strategy. The strategy was unveiled in June 2005 with much fanfare and President Jagdeo had said at the launch that funding for it would come from donor agencies. Rohee could not say whether the administration has already identified the funding sources, when questioned about this a few months back.
The drug plan was unveiled after a four-year hiatus where anti-narcotics master plans were concerned, and amid international pressure for Guyana to act against the burgeoning drugs trade and the growing influence of drug lords. The plan was one of the documents to be studied by members of the National Commission on Law and Order, which is chaired by Rohee.
Empowering
According to the strategy, the government will enact legislation establishing and empowering NANCOS to deal with counter-narcotics activities; to supervise the implementation of the drug plan, regional and international drug agreements and to prepare monthly reports for submission to the National Anti-Narcotics Commission.
Further, it also seeks to amend laws dealing with electronic surveillance and wiretapping. Among other things, such a law would make admissible in the local courts expert scientific evidence from foreign jurisdictions. Further, the intention is to make the provisions relating to liquid narcotics/hashish seizure and forfeiture less cumbersome. Several security experts had told this newspaper that the wiretapping legislation would help reduce the drug problem and could contribute in large measure to the arrest of many drug dealers.
The plan also encompassed increasing the joint enforcement presence at the nine ports of entry, the establishment of an enforcement port in the vicinity of the Orinoco Delta and other locations and increased surveillance at the Bartica, Anna Regina, Linden and Enmore airstrips, none of which has materialised.
Moreover, the strategy had envisaged that in the first year the secretariat would be established and funding sources – local, bilateral and international would be identified. The Joint Intelligence Coordi-nation Centre (JICC) was also to be operationalised in the first year and the Immi-gration and Criminal Investigation Depart-ment (CID) computerised. It was only recently government set up an inter-agency task force on drugs and guns. The task force is comprised of members from the Police Force, army, Guyana Revenue Authority, the Financial Intelligence Unit, the Custom Anti-Narcotics Unit and other bodies.
Additionally, the drug plan calls for the completion of outstanding legislative requirements covering narcotics, money laundering and food and drugs, together with the relevant regulations. Work has begun in this area.
Year one of the implementation of the plan should have seen the development of a national policy on demand reduction, the strengthening of border controls and the enactment of laws to allow for law enforcement agencies to be supported from the proceeds of forfeiture.
Also expected in the initial year were the signing and ratifying of international agreements and conventions, the drawing up of a Memoran-dum of Understanding by law enforcement agencies and the commissioning of a study on the police forensics unit. Government earlier this year purchased several pieces of equipment to boost the deficient police laboratory. However, the unit still lacks the capability to conduct DNA testing and other assays. Training for central bank and financial institutions staff as catered for under the Money Laundering Act, the operationalising of the Financial Intelligence Unit, the establishment of rehabilitation programmes for drug abusers and the fostering of prison rehabilitation and counselling complete the measures to be implemented within the first two years of the strategy.
Contradiction
The ruling PPP in a statement issued on Friday said that it saw the granting of asylum to the Guyanese as a clear contradiction in Canada’s policy, noting that Ottawa is one of the countries that has deported drug dealers to Guyana on a regular basis, most of whom have lived a greater part of their lives in that country. “Guyana had protested this policy of some of the developed countries, including Canada in extraditing drug dealers and other criminals to us,” the PPP said in its statement. It added that indeed the party had mentioned before that while the developed countries have a policy to attract our brains away to their shores, at the same time they seem to also solve their social problems. “It is immoral for Canada to send criminals back to Guyana, which is one of the factors that have caused crimes of this nature to be difficult to curb, while at the same time granting asylum to persons who allegedly are threatened by drug dealers,” the PPP said.
The main opposition PNCR however, stated, that it came as no surprise to most Guyanese that the family had to flee because their lives had been threatened by a drug dealer. “This situation clearly underlines the extent to which the drug lords, through their ill-gotten wealth and connection to the PPP/C political elite have undermined important institutions, like the police to the extent that they can no longer offer protection to the Guyanese people,” the PNCR declared.
The lawyer for the Guyanese family had noted that it was the second case in which he had to represent a family which was forced to flee Guyana because of drug-related problems. The other involved a family with two children. The facts in that matter stated that the famil
y’s car, a white carina, was hijacked and used for a number of criminal activities. This case occurred over two years ago. Persaud said that the family had also been threatened. (Nigel Williams)
