Al YUh believed every word from the State DEpt during PPP, how about NOW??
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US State Dept report says Guyana still a cocaine transit point
A key report on the global fight against narcotic trafficking and money laundering has been released by the United States (US) Department of State. Entitled the “International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR)”, it shows that Guyana has a long road ahead in combating the drug scourge.
According to the report, which was released recently, Guyana is still a transit point for cocaine destined for the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, Europe, and West Africa. The report also mapped out the route for cocaine coming from Colombia, noting that it was smuggled to Venezuela, thence to Guyana via sea or air.
“Smugglers also transit land borders with Brazil, Venezuela, and Suriname. Cocaine is often concealed in legitimate commodities and smuggled via commercial maritime vessels, air transport, human couriers, “go-fast” boats or various postal methods,” the report added.
In a domestic context, the report states that “the influence of narcotics trafficking is evident in the country’s criminal justice systems and other sectors”. Traffickers, it noted, “are attracted by the country’s poorly monitored ports, remote airstrips, intricate river networks, porous land borders, and weak security sector capacity”.
Guyana, the report noted, has a drug enforcement presence at its international airports, post offices, and, to a lesser extent, at port and land-border entry points. It acknowledged the five major agencies involved in the anti-drug fight: the Guyana Police Force (GPF); Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA); the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU); the Special Organised Crimes Unit (SOCU), and the Guyana Defence Force (GDF).
“The GDF supports law enforcement agencies with boats, aircraft, and personnel, but has limited capacity and lacks law enforcement authority. The Guyana Coast Guard (GCG), a GDF sub-component and US partner in maritime interdiction, patrols Guyana’s territorial waters and conducts humanitarian search-and-rescue missions.”
In 2012, with US funding through the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Container Control Programme (CCP) established “a multi-agency CCP Port Control Unit at the John Fernandes Wharf, Guyana’s most active port”.
The report acknowledges some success that initiative
