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International drug arrests…Felix questions Guyana’s intelligence-gathering

Feb 14, 2014 News

By Latoya Giles
Had Guyana’s intelligence-gathering been functioning effectively, local security officials would have known that persons with Mafia ties were working with drug traffickers here.
This is the view of Former Police Commissioner and Shadow Home Affairs Minister Winston Felix, who yesterday questioned the efficiency of the country’s intelligence gathering in the wake of the massive drug operation that was uncovered by US and Italian operatives.
Felix also put forth a number of suggestions that he believes would help improve the present situation.
According to Felix, the first recommendation he would put forward is for the internal structures to start functioning. Felix explained that prior to the current Administration taking office in 1992; there was an anti -narcotic drive in the country since around 1988 when the narcotics act was established.
He said that structure which was created by the then PNC government, started with the National Drug Enforcement Committee. Along the way, more committees were established which dealt with several issues.  According to Felix, not much use was put to these committees and other similar structures down the line.
“I think it is important for them to be put in place so that the work of the various agencies like Customs Anti Narcotics Unit (CANU), Guyana Defence Force (GDF) and the Guyana Police Force (GPF) can come into one instead of them going in different directions,” Felix stressed.
Felix added that there is need for the strengthening of the local agencies, with regards to both the technical and the operational aspects. He explained that the technical aspect refers to issues such as aircraft monitoring.
The Former Police Commissioner disclosed that so serious is the monitoring criteria that had it been in place, persons would have been able to intercept an aircraft in 1993 which flew straight along the Demerara River and deposited a substantial amount of cocaine at New Lands, beyond Linden. No one knew that the aircraft was in Guyana’s airspace, Felix said. “Presently we are in no way different because we cannot determine or identify an aircraft that is in our airspace.”
Felix noted that the operational aspect also needs to be addressed. He explained that currently the force is going behind the “husslers,” rather than the “big ones” .
Also, there is the need for greater collaboration with other international agencies to get information from them.
On Wednesday, President Donald Ramotar insisted that Guyana must not and will not become a safe haven for criminals. According to the Head of State, he has instructed the Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee to write to the United States and request information that they probably have.
“We have also extended to them our full cooperation with dealing on the matter. This country will not become a safe haven for criminals,” President Ramotar stressed.
Opposition Leader David Granger, weighing in on the drug bust said that the creation of a link between local narco traffickers and major international drug lords is more than a dangerous development.
On Tuesday last, news surfaced that more than 20 gangsters were busted in New York for drug trafficking and other offences. The New York Mafia reportedly conspired with the Italian syndicate to traffic cocaine and heroin stashed in shipments of pineapples, frozen fish and other food.
The shipments traveled through ports in Guyana, where Mexican drug cartel members facilitated deliveries, prosecutors said. The raids targeted a network of drug smuggling that stretched from Guyana to Italy to Malaysia to the United States.

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