Even as the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), Timehri authority seeks to take stronger measures to thwart the movement of drugs through Guyana’s sole international airport, concerns are being expressed about other aspects of airport security.
Last week the CJIA signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Customs Anti Narcotics Unit (CANU) the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the Guyana Police Force under which the signatory agencies will collaborate more closely to stem the tide of drug-trafficking through Timehri.
The signing of the MOU comes in the wake of long-expressed concerns over the prevalence of drug finds among outgoing passengers at the Airport and drug busts outside of Guyana and particularly at ports of entry in the United States involving passengers travelling from Georgetown.
Efforts by the local authorities to tighten travel-related security at Timehri have been buttressed by airlines flying to Guyana which, mindful of the heavy fines that they could face in the United States and elsewhere, have been employing private security guards to check outgoing passengers and luggage.
Even as the CJIA moves to further protect the airport against drug traffickers, however, it is confronted by additional security problems arising out of a spate of break-ins and thefts from service providers using facilities at the airport.
Three weeks ago Stabroek Business reported on the theft and destruction of millions of dollars of ground-handling equipment belonging to Roraima Airways and since then this newspaper has learnt of two other incidents in which the security of the premises housing the airport were breached and equipment stolen or destroyed.
A worrying feature of the break-ins at Timehri is the fact that the thieves have reportedly used cutting implements to breach the perimeter fence and have, according to an aviation industry source, removed equipment which required them to use vehicles.
Following the incident involving the theft and destruction of the Roraima ground-handling equipment Stabroek Business had spoken with CJIA Chief Executive Officer Ramesh Ghir who had confirmed that there had been incidents of theft involving property belonging to service providers at Timehri. Geer told Stabroek Business that security at Timehri is provided by the Special Constabulary of the Guyana Police Force but that providing constant patrols for the perimeter fences may be beyond the capability of the current security detail.
But the CJIA Chief Executive Officer has pointed to what he believes is the security threat posed by hundreds of squatters residing on lands owned by the airport authorities just outside its perimeter fence. Most of the squatters have been residing in the vicinity for years and Geer said that he had raised the problem of the squatters and their possible link with breaches of airport security with the authorities on several occasions.
This newspaper understands that sections of the area occupied by the squatters may be linked to drug use and other forms of crime and that the police have carried out raids in the area following the recent spate of thefts at Timehri.
Airport security apart, Geer had told Stabroek Business that each of the various service providers at Timehri bore responsibility for the property used in their separate operations.
In the wake of the Roraima Airways incident the company’s Chief Executive Officer Captain Gerry Gouveia had told Stabroek Business that apart from the losses that his company had suffered he was also concerned about “the wider issue of airport security” which, he said, “has to be viewed in the broader context of the international focus on aviation security as a facet of the current global focus on drug-trafficking and international terrorism.
