International drug bust report...No reply from Americans-says Home Affairs Minister

International drug bust report…No reply from Americans–says Home Affairs Minister

Mar 11, 2014 News

The Americans are yet to respond to Government’s request for information pertaining to a recent drug bust which implicated Guyana as being a route through which illicit narcotics are being trafficked to the United States.

Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee

Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee told this newspaper yesterday, “We have not received a response.”
He explained that the letter was sent to the Americans “soon after” the President so instructed. Minister Rohee refrained, however, from stating to whom the letter was addressed and its contents. He also refrained from stating whether the government received any acknowledgement and a possible time frame when the information would be accessed.
He said he was not obligated to give out the information.
The Security Minister was instructed by President Donald Ramotar to get the necessary information when Guyana was identified as part of a drug smuggling network that stretched from here to Italy to Malaysia and the United States.
About two dozen suspected drug traffickers linked to the Gambino and Bonanno crime families and the Italian crime syndicate known as ‘Ndrangheta were arrested in New York and Italy in early February when the two nations in a team operation disrupted what was described as a “multi-continent drug pipeline”.
The Head of State had said at the time, “We (government) have extended to them (Americans) our full cooperation with dealing on the matter.”
The reports on the drug bust prompted Opposition Leader David Granger and his team to meet with Army Head, Brigadier Mark Phillips to discuss strengthening the technical arm of the GDF, particularly aviation, coastguard and land assets to interdict narcotics and guns coming into Guyana.
US Ambassador, D. Brent Hardt, had also emphasized the need for inter-agency collaboration for the fight against narco- trafficking. He had also expressed continuing talks with the government to establish a Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) in Guyana.
The Ambassador said that as recent as last December the government was being engaged in such talks.
He said that given the porous nature of the country’s borders, it is not difficult for drug cartels to access the country. The Ambassador said that he had made efforts at the American end to lobby for the DEA office, but no decision has been taken.
Court documents out of the US showed that a “Mexican cartel” was shipping up to 200 grams of cocaine out of Guyana in each frozen fish. The dealers were also accused of trafficking cocaine and heroin in other food items.