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No inventory done at CANU following sackings -source

Jun 11, 2008 News

The Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) may find itself in a similar controversy as the Guyana Defence Force over the number of weapons and exhibits it has in stock.

And this trouble may arise from the fact that the Government sacked nine CANU ranks, including its acting head, reportedly without having an inventory done of the Unit’s firearms and exhibits.

CANU is said to be equipped with almost 100 firearms, including sub-machine guns, self-loading rifles and 9mm pistols, as well as bulletproof vests.

The unit also has several kilogrammes of cocaine, marijuana and other illegal drugs that operatives collected from drug busts.

Kaieteur News understands that CANU’s acting head, Orville Nedd, was fired with immediate effect. He reportedly did not sign any documents handing over to the person who would take his place.

Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee last night declined to say whether an inventory of CANU’s firearms and exhibits were done before Nedd was fired.

Asked whether he was concerned that a similar scenario may occur with CANU as with the army, where weapons could not be accounted for, Rohee responded that Kaieteur News should not try to compare CANU with the army.

Government officials and the opposition PNCR became embroiled in a controversy after an allegation that several army weapons disappeared during the tenure of the People’s National Congress.

The army top brass had stated some months ago that an M72 assault rifle and a Beretta submachine gun that were recovered at Mahaicony from gunmen had been issued to the Ministry of National Development in 1976 and 1979.

Army officials stated that the weapons were never returned.

The disappearance of several AK-47 assault rifles from Camp Ayanganna was also blamed partly on poor record keeping.

On Monday, Nedd and eight other CANU officers were sent home after failing their polygraph tests.
The others sent home are agents Hariprashad, Mavis Davis, Chainsukh, Waldrond, Reid, Philander, Sahadeo and Herman.
According to sources, their contracts were terminated with immediate effect.
Last week, President Bharrat Jagdeo confirmed that nine staffers, including Nedd, were to be sent home after they failed to provide satisfactory answers why they failed the tests.
According to a source, the sacked agents have matters pending in the courts, and their absence could negatively affect the outcome of the cases.
The President has disclosed that Guyana has acquired its own polygraph equipment.
A foreign professional has been hired, and CANU staffers have been asked to take the tests.
Informed officials have said that the staffers who failed the tests may not have much by way of recourse, since CANU employees are all retained on contracts, which could be broken at any time time by either the unit or the employee.
The terminations of the CANU employees will be a first time that polygraph testing would have been used in Guyana, and someone who has failed is facing unemployment.
President Jagdeo has also said that any new CANU officer will have to be polygraph tested.
There have been criticisms that the use of polygraph testing cannot be the sole basis in determining whether or not to fire an employee.
A polygraph (commonly referred to as a lie detector) is an instrument that measures and records several physiological responses, including blood pressure, pulse, respiration and skin conductivity while the subject is asked and answers a series of questions, on the basis that false answers will produce distinctive measurements.
Speaking during a press conference last month, President Jagdeo said that written assessments of the CANU tests have been completed and were being perused to determine how serious the breaches were.
The use of polygraph testing is becoming a standard part of the developing technology used by law enforcement agencies, including in hotspots like the US and Colombia.

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