– says local DEA office set for February 10 opening

BY VAHNU MANICKCHAND

United States (US) law enforcement agents have been keeping an eye on a local drug ring, as Guyana

DEA office in Guyana to be launched next week

continues to grapple with the high presence of narcotics trafficking within its borders.
In an interview with Guyana Times, US Ambassador to Guyana Perry Holloway stated that while he cannot talk about specific cases, his Government is monitoring local organisations believed to be engaged in narco trafficking activities to the United States.
“There are narco trafficking organisations in Guyana that ship drugs to the United States and the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) and others, of course, are looking at those – that’s what they do and they will do even a better job once they (DEA agents) get here,” he said one week ahead of the opening of a local DEA office.

“Fair” number of seizures
Ambassador Holloway pointed out that the US is concerned about the “fair” number of drug seizures happening locally, particularly since most of them are destined for the North American country. However,

DEA office in Guyana to be launched next week

he explained that there is some positive on the flip side of this situation as it shows that persons are being intercepted.
“The good news is that seizures are being made so bad guys are being caught and every time you catch a bad guy, you get a ton of information – who they’ve been calling on their cellphones, who they’re meeting with – and this allows you to eventually make the links to try to go back to the root of the organisation,” he outlined during the interview.

According to the US Ambassador, this was the driving force behind the establishment of a DEA office in Guyana. Ambassador Holloway further explained that he has worked in lot of countries that struggle with tremendous narco trafficking problems, and while there is a nacro trafficking problem in every single country in this hemisphere, he does not believe that such a situation is totally permeated in the Guyanese society.

“I still think there is an opportunity for Guyana to start the spread out. Will you ever take (narco trafficking) to zero, to be honest, I don’t think that’s possible but you still have United States being one of the largest consumers even though our consumption is going down, we are still a big consumer so as long as there is a demand, there will be a supply but what you have to hope for is to contain it in such as way that it doesn’t totally degrade or rot your society within,” he remarked.

Permanent DEA presence

Moreover, the US Diplomat stated that with the DEA here permanently, it will allow for a more close collaboration between Guyanese and US law enforcement in tackling the illicit trade. The much anticipated DEA office is scheduled to have its official opening on February 10.
The opening of this office comes amid spiralling narcotics trafficking here and it is anticipated that it will help break up local drug networks. Stakeholders have long called for the establishment of a DEA office in Guyana as they believe it would prevent the spread of the narcotics trade, which has gotten to the point of Guyana being considered a transshipment point. Additionally, the drug trade has also been tied to the increased level of gun violence and other crimes.

According to Ambassador Holloway during the interview with this newspaper, DEA agents would previously come to Guyana at the behest of the Government to assist with investigations into major drug trafficking by providing technical assistance, intelligence and other data to help their local counterparts carry out interceptions.
He noted too that it was against this background and with approval from the previous Administration, and now with support of the current Government, that the US is establishing a local office here which will see the presence of DEA agents here on a fulltime basis. However, the Ambassador, remained that these agents will not be engaged in actual policing activities.

“DEA agents are not Policemen in Guyana. They cannot kick down doors, they can’t arrest anyone. They work on cases that have a US link so if we believe this organisation is smuggling cocaine to New York, then they’re focusing on that,” he stated.
Furthermore, the US Diplomat outlined that with the DEA office here, they will not only get information on the illicit trade to the US, but to other regions around the world. “In the course of investigations, they (DEA) pick up lots of information dealing with local narco trafficking or maybe narco trafficking going to Europe and they’ll be able to share more and more of that information with their counterparts here because relations are going to closer,” he added.

The US Ambassador underscored that while there is no magic bullet to rid any society of narcotics trafficking, he noted that in the period of months and years, all of sudden there will be greater information available adding that with information is how these types of crimes are dissolved.