Govt has info on backtrackers

Kaieteur News publisher Glenn Lall

– Rohee says close attention being paid to recent revelations
Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee  on Thursday said government is paying close attention to the ongoing revelations which have come to its attention from both reliable sources as well as sections of the media about persons being involved in backtracking and trafficking in persons.
The minister’s statements referenced recent media exposÉs concerning allegations of trafficking in persons and backtracking, and the reference to certain names of persons who are alleged to be involved in these activities “whether at our borders or otherwise”.
“The Ministry of Home Affairs is concerned that these revelations which continue to appear in sections of the media and consequently, has since become entrenched in the public domain can contribute to the image of the country being damaged by virtue of the said revelations. In any of these events, the Ministry of Home Affairs wishes to assure that the police will be deployed depending on the evolution of the events and the emergence of any evidence on the matters which have now found prominence in the public domain,” the minister’s statement concluded.
The United States embassy in a cable had accused publisher of the Kaieteur News, Glenn Lall of having links to alien smuggling. Local U.S. embassy then political officer Benjamin Canavaughn had stated in the cable that Lall was a person with a “sketchy past” and was allegedly involved in “alien smuggling” and had “links to the underworld”.

Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee

The cable stated that: “He (Lall) translated a shoe trading business and rumoured involvement with alien smuggling into a muckraking independent newspaper. He has also been accused of having his finger on the pulse of Guyana’s underworld, which serves his media enterprise well,” the cable said. The then political officer had spoken with Lall prior to the writing of the cable.
Former President Bharrat Jagdeo had also publicly accused Lall of having links to alien smuggling.
Last Thursday, a former backtrack operative told this newspaper that smugglers here can earn up to $3 million to facilitate the migration of one person to the United States.
The former operator also said that securing what are often false travel documents is a lucrative trade here, and many “successful” businessmen have been part of the network.
Guyana Times was told that the network of alien smugglers, also include immigration and embassy officials. The former operator told this newspaper under conditions of anonymity that he has been out of the business owing to past problems which included prosecution. The former operator highlighted a number of methods used by backtrackers such as passengers switching seats during flights, persons travelling through Mexico on their way up to the United States, and also some people renting and sometimes selling their green cards and foreign passports to backtrack operators.
Contacted on the issue, a senior official acknowledged that there had been cases of Guyanese using false travel documents and some of these people had been caught and returned to Guyana.
The officer could not say the extent of backtracking here, but noted that many Guyanese who used the backtrack method to travel overseas would actually leave Georgetown legally, but would connect in other countries where they would uplift their false documents from agents working there.
Guyana Times  was told that there was an active illegal migration ring, which facilitates forged passports and other fake documents.
Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon has told this newspaper recently that evidence have supported allegations that backtracking is taking place at significant levels here, and he announced that an ongoing probe could snare old operators in the illegal business.
The United States urged the Guyana government to go after human smugglers in its recently released 2012 Trafficking in Persons report.  The report stated that Guyana is a source and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labour.  Guyanese nationals have been subjected to human trafficking in other countries in the Caribbean region. Cases of human trafficking reported in the media generally involved women and girls in forced prostitution.
According to the report, the country experts expressed concern that exploitative child labour practices occur within the mining industry, agriculture, and forestry sectors.
“The limited government control of Guyana’s vast interior regions, combined with profits from gold mining and the prostitution that accompanies the industry, provide conditions conducive for trafficking.”
The U.S. recommended that Guyana boost efforts to hold trafficking offenders accountable by vigorously and appropriately investigating and prosecuting them