Surveillance cameras will soon monitor internal operations at the Guyana Post Office Corporation (GPOC) as it moves to stop drug trafficking through postal packages.
At a press conference yesterday morning to announce this, GPOC Chairman Bishop Juan Edghill lamented the fact that the post office had faced an uphill battle with Customs officials over this.
Edghill said the situation was only resolved when the head of the Customs and Trade Administration Chabilal Ramsarup became involved and a compromise was reached.
Edghill said Customs officers had refused to have the cameras installed, in the area where they operate, saying that this would violate their privacy. There are some five Customs officers stationed at the post office. However, in the compromise reached, the Customs officers will check packages in another room, where cameras will be installed, maintaining their privacy in the room where packages were formerly checked.
Explaining why the GPOC had undertaken to have security cameras installed, Edghill said there were instances where packages and parcels were stamped as examined by Customs and when scanned at the airport, cocaine was found in them. He noted that these packages were stored at the post office under customs seal and transported to the airport in the presence of a customs officer and a GPOC staffer, and kept under supervision, with each side, customs and GPOC having keys. How drugs got past these measures, the Chairman said was “something that is quite baffling”.
Asked whether the cameras would help decrease the number of drug finds in the mail, he said they would “minimize” the occurrence of it. It was also noted that along with the surveillance cameras disciplinary measures would be taken against GPOC staffers, if warranted.
The Chairman remarked that because of extra checks at international ports, mail could face delays and this would affect business. Already, he said, Caribbean Airlines (CA) had stopped taking GPOC mail and the corporation was forced to have a CA security official provide training to its staffers, as well as find alternative means to transport mail.
Asked about the number of cameras that would be installed, the chairman said he could not divulge this for security reasons, but emphasized that they would be sufficient for all the sensitive areas. Cameras are expected to be set up in the mail sorting areas as well as the Customs examination area.
The exact value of the cameras was not given, but they were said to be worth several million dollars, provided exclusively from GPOC earnings.
Meanwhile, Edghill also called for a permanent Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) officer to be based at the GPOC immediately.
“I am frustrated with the attitude of some Customs officers,” he lamented, adding that he had heard remarks like the job of customs “is not to look after narcotics but to look after revenue”.
Edghill remarked that he was “very serious” about the fight against illegal drugs.
