DRUG PLAN STILL STALLED

As Guyanese mules continue to be held abroad and a family was
recently granted asylum in Canada because of threats from a drug
lord, the government's much-vaunted drug master plan which promised
witness protection and other innovations has barely inched out of the
starting blocks.

Last month a Guyanese family of three was granted refugee status in
Canada under the Canadian Immigra-tion and Protection Act after
arguing that the police here provided no protection when they had
been threatened by a drug lord. The decision handed down on
September 28, 2007 in Toronto, Canada, by AC Knevel, the tribunal
judge acting on behalf of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada
said they were accepted as refugees under the UN Convention based on
their claims. The case was heard on September 21. The family was
represented by Guyanese immigration barrister and solicitor living
and working in Canada, Balwant Persaud who had told Stabroek News
from Toronto that the family fled Guyana after the head of the
family, a former wharf manager of a leading shipping company, was
asked to turn a blind eye to shipments of mainly rice, concealing
narcotics destined for Europe. Several shipments of products from
Guyana - including rice and timber - have been he! ld abroad after
cocaine was found hidden in them. Several shipments have also been
found at wharves here.

In recent months there have also been several cases where drugs have
transited through the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri
without being detected by security apparatus. Heroin was also
recently found on a passenger who left Timehri. In addition,
high-profile drug accused have evaded capture here and the US, in
particular, has expressed concern over the quality of the drug fight.

Meanwhile, Two years after the $650M drug master plan was unveiled by
President Bharrat Jagdeo little or nothing has been done to have it
implemented. Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee said that they have
appointed, Crime Specialist, Errol Vannooten as the co-coordinator of
the National Anti-Narcotics Coordinating Secretariat (NANCOS), the
unit responsible for pushing the strategy ahead. Contacted last week
for a comment on his work so far Vannooten said that he could not
speak to the press without consent from Rohee. The minister has since
been unavailable to this newspaper.

Rohee had promised earlier this year that some of the measures
outlined in the strategy were being put in place, although admitting
that little progress has been made with respect to implementing the
strategy. The strategy was unveiled in June 2005 with much fanfare
and President Jagdeo had said at the launch that funding for it would
come from donor agencies. Rohee could not say whether the
administration has already identified the funding sources, when
questioned about this a few months back.

The drug plan was unveiled after a four-year hiatus where
anti-narcotics master plans were concerned, and amid international
pressure for Guyana to act against the burgeoning drugs trade and the
growing influence of drug lords. The plan was one of the documents to
be studied by members of the National Commission on Law and Order,
which is chaired by Rohee.

Empowering

According to the strategy, the government will enact legislation
establishing and empowering NANCOS to deal with counter-narcotics
activities; to supervise the implementation of the drug plan,
regional and international drug agreements and to prepare monthly
reports for submission to the National Anti-Narcotics Commission.

Further, it also seeks to amend laws dealing with electronic
surveillance and wiretapping. Among other things, such a law would
make admissible in the local courts expert scientific evidence from
foreign jurisdictions. Further, the intention is to make the
provisions relating to liquid narcotics/hashish seizure and
forfeiture less cumbersome. Several security experts had told this
newspaper that the wiretapping legislation would help reduce the drug
problem and could contribute in large measure to the arrest of many
drug dealers.

The plan also encompassed increasing the joint enforcement presence
at the nine ports of entry, the establishment of an enforcement port
in the vicinity of the Orinoco Delta and other locations and
increased surveillance at the Bartica, Anna Regina, Linden and
Enmore airstrips, none of which has materialised.

Moreover, the strategy had envisaged that in the first year the
secretariat would be established and funding sources - local,
bilateral and international would be identified. The Joint
Intelligence Coordi-nation Centre (JICC) was also to be
operationalised in the first year and the Immi-gration and Criminal
Investigation Depart-ment (CID) computerised. It was only recently
government set up an inter-agency task force on drugs and guns. The
task force is comprised of members from the Police Force, army,
Guyana Revenue Authority, the Financial Intelligence Unit, the Custom
Anti-Narcotics Unit and other bodies.

Additionally, the drug plan calls for the completion of outstanding
legislative requirements covering narcotics, money laundering and
food and drugs, together with the relevant regulations. Work has
begun in this area.

Year one of the implementation of the plan should have seen the
development of a national policy on demand reduction, the
strengthening of border controls and the enactment of laws to allow
for law enforcement agencies to be supported from the proceeds of
forfeiture.

Also expected in the initial year were the signing and ratifying of
international agreements and conventions, the drawing up of a
Memoran-dum of Understanding by law enforcement agencies and the
commissioning of a study on the police forensics unit. Government
earlier this year purchased several pieces of equipment to boost the
deficient police laboratory. However, the unit still lacks the
capability to conduct DNA testing and other assays. Training for
central bank and financial institutions staff as catered for under
the Money Laundering Act, the operationalising of the Financial
Intelligence Unit, the establishment of rehabilitation programmes for
drug abusers and the fostering of prison rehabilitation and
counselling complete the measures to be implemented within the first
two years of the strategy.

Contradiction

The ruling PPP in a statement issued on Friday said that it saw the
granting of asylum to the Guyanese as a clear contradiction in
Canada's policy, noting that Ottawa is one of the countries that has
deported drug dealers to Guyana on a regular basis, most of whom have
lived a greater part of their lives in that country. "Guyana had
protested this policy of some of the developed countries, including
Canada in extraditing drug dealers and other criminals to us," the
PPP said in its statement. It added that indeed the party had
mentioned before that while the developed countries have a policy to
attract our brains away to their shores, at the same time they seem
to also solve their social problems. "It is immoral for Canada to
send criminals back to Guyana, which is one of the factors that have
caused crimes of this nature to be difficult to curb, while at the
same time granting asylum to persons who allegedly are threatened by
drug dealers," the PPP said.

The main opposition PNCR however, stated, that it came as no surprise
to most Guyanese that the family had to flee because their lives had
been threatened by a drug dealer. "This situation clearly underlines
the extent to which the drug lords, through their ill-gotten wealth
and connection to the PPP/C political elite have undermined important
institutions, like the police to the extent that they can no longer
offer protection to the Guyanese people," the PNCR declared.

The lawyer for the Guyanese family had noted that it was the second
case in which he had to represent a family which was forced to flee
Guyana because of drug-related problems. The other involved a family
with two children. The facts in that matter stated that the family's
car, a white carina, was hijacked and used for a number of criminal
activities. This case occurred over two years ago. Persaud said that
the family had also been threatened.