Senior officers of the Guyana Police Force seem to make their strongest statements about the virulence of the illegal narcotics trade only after some tragedy has occurred. They give the impression, unwittingly, that despite receiving ‘intelligence,’ they do little to forestall a felony or to arrest the suspects.
Commissioner of Police Mr Henry Greene, for example, told the press earlier this month that the Police Force was working on the theory that the Cummings Lodge massacre may have been “drug-related.” He explained, in excruciating detail, how the murdered men collected 9 kg of cocaine which was brought from Venezuela but delivered only 2 kg to a “certain group” claiming that the remainder had been seized by the police. This tall tale was not believed by the interested parties who, the Commissioner seemed to suggest, responded by executing five persons at Cummings Lodge.
Mr Greene had a lot more to say about the murdered men. The ringleader – Steve Jupiter – had been “well known to the police to be involved in all sorts of criminal activities. We have heard his name in all sorts of criminal activities that would include persons who were paid to write other people off; transporting of drugs; protecting and strong-arming for drug dealers and some other matters.” Another murdered man – Christopher Gordon – had been deported to Guyana for narcotics offences in 2003. These facts point to serious crimes. If the police had so much incriminating information, why did they not arrest, interrogate and bring the suspects to trial?
Assistant Commissioner Seelall Persaud, who is head of the Police Force’s Criminal Investigation Department, told this newspaper that the March 2009 murder of Romeo and Clint De Agrella – a father and son – in the Barima-Waini Region was “drug related.” Assistant Commissioner Stephen Merai who commands the Police Force’s East and West Berbice ‘B’ Division told the press in March this year that the speedboats with high-powered engines found at the home of a suspected narco-trafficker at de Veldt were used to transport narcotics especially during the nights; were faster than the police boats and can reach Venezuela. The police raids, Merai said, were part of an operation to “cut down the drug trade.”
The Police Force, in several other cases, seems to have adopted an attitude of nonchalant disregard towards narco-trafficking. Investigations into the March 2005 discovery of a Cessna 206 aircraft with duplicate registration that was abandoned at the Kwapau airstrip in the Cuyuni-Mazaruni region, and the December 2007 discovery of a crippled Let 410 aircraft that carried a Venezuelan flag on an illegal airstrip at Wanatoba in the East Berbice-Corentyne region, have petered out. Two ‘businessmen,’ one of whom was known to be connected to the narcotics trade, were linked to the bulldozer that was used to construct the airstrip. Could diligent investigation and collaboration with Venezuelan authorities not have revealed the ownership of these aircraft or exposed the membership of the drug cartel behind the traffic?
The Police Force’s ambivalent attitude to narcotics crimes became apparent since the notorious execution of Monica Reece in April 1993. Commissioner of Police Mr Laurie Lewis at that time ruled out a narcotics connection but he was not believed. The Force’s failure to solve that case has left lingering doubts both about the motives of the criminals and the indifference, or indolence, of the investigators.
The Commissioner by now surely must know a lot about narco-trafficking and the cartels behind it. He must know too that little has been done to arrest and punish the culprits and bring the bloody trade to an end.
