Suriname has now become part of a wider network for intelligence sharing and dissemination of information in relation to illegal firearms within the Caribbean.
On Wednesday morning, it signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the United States Government who will provide access to eTrace – an Internet based programme developed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). This will allow domestic and international law enforcement agencies to trace US-origin firearms used or suspected to have been used in criminal activities, stated a press release from the CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen.
With this MOU and the Regional Ballistics Investigative System (RIBIN) being developed by CARICOM, Suriname has joined other CARICOM member states in the use of technology to track the origin of illegal guns with the assistance of the United States.
Guyana has already signed the Memorandum. The other CARICOM countries that have signed also are Antigua and Barbuda, the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago.
Eight other Central American countries – Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama and Mexico – also have access to eTrace.
Minister of Justice and Police Chandrikapersad Santokhi who signed on behalf of Suriname reiterated the need to adopt a multi-disciplinary and unified approach to addressing transnational crime.
He added that global and hemispheric changes had prompted the need to strengthen cooperation between CARICOM and the USA in transnational crimes and other areas such as terrorism, climate change and lifestyle-related diseases, including HIV and AIDS.
The ATF-run programme forms part of an ongoing offensive against firearms trafficking in the region, in keeping with the joint CARICOM-US Initiative on Combating the Illicit Trafficking in Small Arms, Light Weapons and Ammunition (SALWA).
The signing of the MOU on Wednesday led into the CARICOM-US Technical Meeting on Security Cooperation currently taking place at the Royal Ballroom of the Torarica Hotel in Suriname.
The meeting prepares the Community for a high level Caribbean Security Cooperation Dialogue between Caribbean countries and the United States, scheduled for Washington, later this year. And the outcome should be more tangible partnerships between both regions in stamping out transnational and domestic crimes, particularly in the area of gun trafficking, the release added.
