Only two days after Shaheed ‘Roger’ Khan had been jailed in New York for several crimes including importing cocaine into the USA from his base in Georgetown, Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee found it appropriate to congratulate the Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit and pour praise on its personnel for their “work in the suppression of illicit trafficking in narcotics.”
Missing the irony of the coincidence of the two events, Mr Rohee praised CANU − the country’s youngest law enforcement agency − for having displayed “accelerated maturity” in the “successes” achieved with limited resources at its disposal. Soberly, however, Rohee admitted that CANU’s full potential and scope of operations are still unrealised and that deficiencies “are currently being addressed.”
In a flight of fantasy, Minister Rohee conjectured that the Unit had “the potential to become a National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, commanding the respect of other law enforcement agencies in Guyana, CARICOM, the hemisphere and the international community, forging genuine linkages with kindred organizations and networks to develop intelligence in the fight against international drug trafficking.”
Missing the irony of history as well, Mr Rohee cited as the only example of “success” an incident that occurred eleven years ago when the Unit was under different management. That was the apprehension of 6,940 pounds of cocaine valued at US$288 M on the MV Danielsen in October of 1998.
It is public knowledge that the most recent US Department of State’s International Narcotics Control Strategy Report issued only eight months ago still describes Guyana as “a transit point for cocaine destined for North America, Europe, West Africa, and the Caribbean.”
The Report pointed out that, in 2008, “domestic seizures of cocaine fell more than 50 percent from 2007” and mentioned the fact that the Government of Guyana’s National Drug Strategy Master Plan for 2005-2009 had achieved “few of the plan’s original goals. Minimal cooperation among law enforcement bodies, weak border controls and limited resources for law enforcement have allowed drug traffickers to move shipments via river, air, and land without meaningful resistance.”
The report criticised the Government of Guyana for not having “identified or confronted major drug traffickers and their organizations” and pointed out that “efforts by the Guyana Police Force Narcotics Branch and CANU have been limited to arresting low-level drug couriers at Guyana’s international airport, who carry only small amounts of marijuana, crack cocaine or powder cocaine.”
Everyone knows that trafficking in narcotics has been booming not shrinking. An impressive 1,100 m-long illegal airstrip with a burnt-out Let 410 UVP-E turboprop aeroplane with a payload of 1,615 kg − was ‘discovered’ near Wanatoba, 130 km up the Corentyne River. Another burnt-out aircraft was ‘discovered’ on the airstrip at Bartica in December 1998. Another burnt-out aircraft was ‘discovered’ at Mabura Hill in July 2000. An abandoned aircraft was ‘discovered’ at Kwapau in March 2005. How is it that all of these ‘discoveries’ occurred without prosecution of the culprits during CANU’s existence?
CANU has not been able to identify the criminal cocaine cartels which have been constructing illegal airstrips and coordinating the air traffic enabling the large-scale importation of illegal narcotics into the country. In its entire history, CANU has not been able to arrest and bring to trial a single significant narco-trafficker.
Mr Rohee could have done better by mentioning what headway had been made in arresting the killers of two CANU members − Vibert Inniss, the deputy Head, in August 2002 and Harold Duncan, an agent, in January 2003 − during Shaheed ‘Roger’ Khan’s enforcement operations.
The minister should be ashamed to lavish praise on an agency which has so staggeringly underperformed. CANU’s 14th anniversary is nothing to celebrate.
