Government plans to “harmonise” the functions of the Police Narcotics Branch and the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) under one agency to lead the fight against drug trafficking, President David Granger says.
“I prefer a single strong unit… I agree that the duties of the police anti-narcotics unit and the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit should be merged,” Granger said, during a recorded interview with journalists for the Ministry of the Presidency’s ‘Public’s Interest’ television programme.
Granger noted that there is an overlap in the work of the two units, even though CANU has the wider responsibility. He added that the police unit is the smaller of the two and seems to focus largely on mobile and eradication operations.
“The two functions have to be harmonised; we don’t need two, we need one strong unit,” he added.
According to Granger, the police will have to remain involved in the narcotics fight as it has to do laboratory work and forensic work to determine whether the commodities which are seized are indeed illegal narcotics. On the enforcement end, involving the patrols, the vehicles and the aircrafts will fall within one unit, for which a name is yet to be determined, he noted.
Meanwhile, asked specifically if the present CANU head James Singh will be replaced, Granger said no. “We are not anticipating a change in the head of CANU at this point,” he said.
For years, Guyana has been unable to efficiently curb the drug trade. On many occasions, drugs get by the local authorities at the various ports, only to be detected in other countries.
