Country actions against drugs in 2006
Kaieteur News
March 2, 2007
Policy initiatives:-
The US Drug report stated that the Guyana Government did not announce any new drug policy initiatives in 2006.
In addition it added that Guyana has not yet implemented its ambitious 2005-2009 National Drug Strategy Master Plan that was launched in June 2005.
It also lashed the ineffective financial investigations unit, which was set up to track down money laundering.
“The Financial Investigations Unit (FIU) remains handicapped by the lack of effective legislation to deal with money laundering, such as the absence of regulations to allow for seizing assets,” the report said.
In 2006, Guyanese law enforcement agencies seized less than 60 kilograms of cocaine with no publicly reported seizures in excess of 10 kilograms.
According to the report, this represents a minuscule portion of the cocaine that the US Government believes transits Guyana.
In 2006, alleged Guyanese drug trafficker Roger Khan was indicted by a Federal Court in New York for conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States.
Khan, who was deported from Trinidad, is currently incarcerated in New York awaiting trial.
Law enforcement efforts
The Guyana Government's counter-narcotics efforts suffer from a lack of adequate law enforcement resources, poor inter-agency coordination, and widespread corruption, the report noted.
Several agencies share responsibility for counter-narcotics activities: the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) is tasked with conducting enforcement activities mainly at ports of entry; the Guyana Police Force (GPF) Narcotics Branch is the principal element in the police responsible for enforcement of drug laws domestically; and the Guyana Defence Force Coast Guard (GDFCG) has the lead for maritime counter-narcotics operations.
“There is little productive interaction or intelligence sharing among these organisations. The Joint Intelligence Coordination Centre (JICC) is not currently operational,” the report said.
In 2006, the GPF Narcotics Branch and CANU arrested dozens of drug couriers at Guyana's international airport en route to the Caribbean, North America, and Europe.
However, the arrests were limited to individuals with small amounts of marijuana, crack cocaine or powder cocaine, usually on charges of possession for the purpose of trafficking.
“Authorities have not successfully acted against major traffickers and their organisations.”
The GDFCG conducts patrols with the interceptor boat donated by the US Government in 2005, but has not yet interdicted any narcotics shipments.
While CANU is responsible for patrolling Guyana's ports, it has only one team of six officers available to secure all five main transit points.
CANU has no officers patrolling the numerous land entry points on the Venezuela, Brazil, and Suriname borders.
Corruption
The US Drug Report stated that there is no evidence that the Government of Guyana or senior Government officials encourage or facilitate the illicit production, processing, shipment or distribution of narcotic or psychotropic drugs or other controlled substances, or the laundering of proceeds from illegal drug transactions.
However, while the report stated that Guyana is party to the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption (IACAC), it has yet to fully implement its provisions, such as seizure of property obtained through corruption.
“News media routinely report on instances of corruption reaching to high levels of government that go uninvestigated and unpunished,” the report said.
Guyana is not a party to the UN Convention against Corruption.
Agreements and Treaties
Guyana is party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention, the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, as amended by the 1972 Protocol, and the 1971 UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances.
Guyana also is a party to the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime and its protocol on trafficking in persons.
The 1931 Extradition Treaty between the United States and the United Kingdom is applicable to the U.S. and Guyana.
Although there is no bilateral mutual legal assistance treaty between the U.S. and Guyana, assistance has been provided informally to each country by the other.
In March 2006, Guyana signed the OAS Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, to which the US is a party, which can be a basis to seek assistance.
Guyana signed a bilateral agreement with the U.S. on maritime counter-narcotics cooperation in 2001; however, it has not yet taken the necessary domestic actions to bring the agreement into force.
Guyana has bilateral agreements to cooperate on drug trafficking issues with its neighbours and with the United Kingdom. Guyana is also a member of the Organisation of American States' Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (OAS/CICAD).
Cultivation and production
Cannabis cultivation occurs in Guyana on a limited scale, primarily in the intermediate savannahs.
Police regularly discover and eradicate cannabis cultivation sites when conducting area sweeps. Guyana authorities discovered and destroyed more than 6,500 kilograms of marijuana in 2006.
Drug flow/transit
According to US government law enforcement authorities, Guyanese narcotics traffickers regularly move shipments of cocaine through the country.
In some deals Guyanese traffickers swap weapons for drugs, the report said.
It added that cocaine flows through Guyana's remote, uncontrolled borders and coastline.
Light aircraft land at numerous isolated airstrips or make airdrops where operatives on the ground retrieve the drugs.
Smugglers use small boats and freighters to enter Guyana's many remote but navigable rivers. Smugglers also take direct routes, such as driving or boating across the uncontrolled borders with Brazil, Suriname, and Venezuela.
Inside the country, the report stated, narcotics are transported to Georgetown by road, water, or air and then sent on to the Caribbean, North America, or Europe via commercial air carriers or cargo ships. "Go-fast" boats may also carry cocaine from Guyana's rivers to mother ships in the Atlantic. Authorities have arrested drug mules attempting to smuggle small amounts of cocaine on virtually every northbound route out of the international airport.
Drug traffickers also use cargo ships to export narcotics from Guyana, either directly to North America and Europe, or through intermediate Caribbean ports.
In July 2006, Spanish police broke up a drug-smuggling ring that used yachts hired out for family holidays to import more than 800 kgs of cocaine into Britain and Spain.
Authorities said the drugs were loaded off Venezuela, Guyana and Suriname and hidden below the decks while paying passengers took cruises.
The US Drug Report stated that drug traffickers have also used virtually every commodity that Guyana exports as a cover for shipping cocaine out of the country.
The reports said that marijuana is sold and consumed openly in Guyana, despite frequent arrests for possessing small amounts of cannabis.
The road ahead
Guyana's lack of resources significantly hampers its ability to mount an effective counter-narcotics campaign, the report said.
It added that the Guyana Government needs to implement the substantive initiatives of its National Drug Strategy Master Plan for 2005-2009.
“The U.S. will channel future assistance to initiatives that demonstrate success in interdicting drug flows and prosecuting drug traffickers. Additionally, legislation to give the Financial Investigations Unit (FIU) additional authorities and provide regulations allowing for asset seizure and forfeiture needs to be passed.
“We also encourage the Guyana Government to increase participation in bilateral and multilateral initiatives, as well as implementing current international conventions and agreements,” the report stated.