Police Commissioner (ag) Seelall Persaud has welcomed the impending establishment by the United States of a Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) office here, saying it will enhance collaboration.
“The DEA will be a tremendous help to the Guyana Police Force. We have been collaborating with them since 1988 but now that they will have an office here the work will be enhanced. It is better to be able to communicate face to face and share data than to have to interface over the telephone,” Persaud said yesterday at the opening ceremony for the Junior Officers’ Course No. 25 at the Guyana Police Force Training (GPF) Centre yesterday.
The announcement of the establishment of a DEA office in Guyana was made by President Donald Ramotar and US Ambassador to Guyana Brent Hardt on Thursday, after years of unfulfilled plans. The office will be set up at the US Embassy in Duke Street, Kingston. Previously, collaboration between local authorities and the DEA was done through the agency’s office in Trinidad.
The DEA office has been sought in Guyana for many years and successive PPP/C administrations and US mission heads have traded blame for the failure to set it up.
