It is known to law enforcement authorities that cocaine and marijuana are moving freely across the Guyana/Suriname border but an existing agreement between the two countries is preventing it from being tackled, according to Crime Chief Seelall Persaud.
Persaud said there is a two-way flow of drugs across the border; cocaine and cannabis going and cocaine and cannabis coming.
However, though a murder accused said recently in a High Court trial that he use to drop off cocaine in Suriname and was paid US$800 per trip, Persaud said “we are not looking at it”. According to him that information is not enough.
Ryan Bacchus had said in his statement to police, which was admitted as evidence in his trial, that he and four friends met at the Paradise Sea Dam and planned to rob the deceased Lakeram
Mc Kenzie called ‘Rambo’ because they used to work with him. He had also said that he used to drop off cocaine to Suriname for the deceased and would make US$800 per trip. Bacchus told police that McKenzie had owed him US$500 and he had also owed one of his friends who planned the robbery.
When asked why steps are not being taken to beef up security at the country’s border locations with Suriname, the crime chief said doing that would have implications because of an existing agreement between the two countries.
Meanwhile a security source told this newspaper that police are well aware that drugs are entering and leaving Guyana via the Guyana /Suriname border. The source pointed out that the many cocaine and cannabis busts that occur in the Corentyne area confirms that this is what is happening. Cross-border cocaine trafficking, the source said, stretches as far back at the 1980s.
According to the source, it is not only drugs that are being smuggled across the border but gold, household articles and other items. The source told Stabroek News that the police are well aware that illegal activities are ongoing at the border.
The source said that both sides are well aware that persons enter both countries through illegal ports but nothing is being done to regulate this system. The source noted that the official entry and exit point on the Guyana side is at Moleson Creek where there are police and immigration officials present.
It was pointed out too that even at this port “things” enter and leave Guyana illegally because luggage and vehicles are not searched.
The source pointed out that a large number of persons opt not to use the Moleson Creek Ferry Service because of the time it takes to clear immigration, board the ferry and then travel to Suriname. The source said that as such persons use the small speed boats at the “illegal crossings”. Using the illegal crossings one can easily travel to Suriname early in the morning, do business and be back in Guyana by late afternoon. However, this would be impossible if one uses the legal route.
More than normal
policing
Another security source, stressing that Suriname is no exception to cross border trafficking, said, “Normal police methods of detection alone cannot fight the drug trade”. The source said there would need to be other established methods like intelligence and surveillance.
Over the years, several persons were arrested trafficking in cocaine in Essequibo, Berbice and Lethem, areas which are close to the country’s borders with Suriname, Brazil and Venezuela. It was noted that sometimes “a vigilant and lucky policeman might uncover trafficking …
“Narco-operation seeks not just to get at the illicit substance but to get to the root of the operation and to root out the major players,” the source said.
Piggot killing
Back in 2008, eight kilogrammes of cocaine were found concealed in a car driven by Raphael Piggott who was shot dead shortly after returning from Suriname.
Piggott was shot by a lone gunman at Cummings Lodge. The gunman then fled the scene in a car while the wounded Piggott was subsequently pronounced dead at a city hospital.
Police found US$14,041 and €1,100 in the vehicle at the murder scene and later revealed that eight packets of cocaine weighing eight kilogrammes were found concealed in the fuel tank of the vehicle, which had been adjusted.
Two persons who were in the car at the time of the shooting were arrested following the drug find.
Piggott’s relatives had said they did not believe he was involved in anything illegal. They said he walked and sold clothing and spare parts and also worked his car as a taxi.
