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24 oktober 2004

The backdoor to greener pastures beckons

Security measures fail to stop backtracking

The new machine-readable US visas with bio-data have not halted backtracking, the operatives say; they have only made the trade slightly more difficult as a forged document could only be used once and not multiple times as in the past.

The smuggling of people to the US and Canada has been going on for at least two decades. Tighter security measures and the apprehension and prosecution of several would-be backtrackers do not appear to have curbed the practice. In fact, only last week, New York police investigating the murder of a Guyanese woman, said that her boyfriend who has since been arrested and charged with the crime, had paid US$9,000 to get her into the States through Canada.

Sunday Stabroek was told that the organizers of this business do not consider paying an embassy official to obtain a visa backtracking. For them it means traveling on a false or 'switched' (the preferred term) document which allows entry into the US either through a normal port of entry, or a remote town in Texas near the US-Mexican border.

The police have had little success in stamping out backtracking as they say it is highly organized with overseas assistance recruited to facilitate it.

They also complain that it continues to flourish because the fines the courts impose are minimal, and they seem not to take a serious view of people caught uttering forged travel documents.

The success of the trade depends on networking with amenable airline employees and police officers stationed at the airport, including immigration officers. This means the clients of the backtrackers have to leave on certain flights and on particular days when members of the network are on duty, if the 'switched' documents are being used throughout the journey.

If they are using their own passports to travel to an intermediate point like Trinidad, the preferred switching point, the organizers have no need for the network at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri. Instead they just have to deal with an immigration officer at Piarco Airport who is prepared not to inspect the travel document the client would have been given after spending two or three weeks on the island learning the mannerisms and speech patterns of Trinidadians.

One source told Sunday Stabroek that Trinidad had been the preferred switching point as the visa issued there did not carry a photograph. The client just had to be in the age range or the likely age range of the original owner of the travel document. The source says too that fake visas which withstand the scrutiny of US immigration officials in New York and Miami are available in Trinidad, as well as reconstructed passports purportedly issued by the Trinidad and Tobago government.

The source says US visas are also produced in Guyana and though these are not machine readable, they can be used to enter the States through a remote border crossing. These visas carry the numbers of valid visas and if entered into a computer would show that they are valid.

The source declined to identify the entry point but said that it was used for getting clients from Berbice into the US.

Apart from 'switched' passports, sources say, clients are also ferried into the US using green cards. They point out that clients using these documents have to be somewhat similar in appearance to the people to whom the cards were validly issued by the US government.

In terms of children, other sources say they would bring people from the US to take the children back to the US. They point out that they use people whose passports bear photographs of their own children taken when they were very young, so all that is needed is for the backtracking children to have a general resemblance to those passport photographs.

In terms of the financial arrangements, one source told the Sunday Stabroek that overseas relatives of the backtrackers are contacted and arrangements made for the payment either before the client arrives in the US or on their arrival.

In the latter case, the relatives are notified a few days before the client travels and alerted to have the payment ready. They are not told of the exact date and time of arrival in the US. On arrival in the US, the clients are met by a contact of the organizer who takes them to a safe house where they are kept until their relatives arrive with the payment.

If they are taken through a remote border, the clients are accompanied by a contact to a safe house where they await payment.

Before the intensified security arrangements, there were arrangements for the payments to be made in installments but that no longer obtains as the business is now cash on the head.

The cost of the service, the sources say, has jumped from US$8,000 to around $15,000 with just a few dollars off if it is being provided for children. But business continues to flourish because of the demand to unite families - husbands and wives with their spouses, and children with their parents. "There would be hundreds of people lining up if an organizer were to go to Berbice and say that he has a safe way of getting people to the United States of America, the preferred North American destination," a source said.

Because of this demand, sources say, there are some individuals, one of whom is reported to be an ex-immigration officer, preying on people and fleecing them of cash. This scam involves bringing clients to Georgetown and putting them up in a hotel or safe house.

Their relatives are contacted and told that they are already in the US, usually in Miami, and that they would need to send some money to cover the expenses incurred getting them to the US ahead of time, and to get them to a final destination. The clients would also speak with their relatives confirming that the 'man' is working to get them to New York. Once the relatives wire the money to the address given, and receipt is confirmed, the con man simply walks away.

In another version of the scam, clients are told to bring along 'show money,' usually several hundred US dollars. As they are being taken to the airport, a police car would intercept them. As the police vehicle approaches, the driver taking the clients to the airport alerts his passenger/s that the police are coming, stops the car and walks away.

The police who would be in collusion with the con man would then interrogate the passengers, search them and confiscate the money and any false documents they may have. These incidents, the sources say, are rarely if ever reported to the police. But they say the frequency of such incidents is impacting negatively on 'legitimate' backtrackers.

Sources also told Sunday Stabroek that intensified security at the airport has curbed the incidence of organizers surreptitiously slipping some illegal substance in their clients' baggage. They say those employed in the trade are not usually involved in drug trafficking.

They admit though that backtracking has facilitated some organizers getting into the drug trade and they have abandoned backtracking. However, law enforcement sources did say that there is a movement to backtracking when the heat is on drug smuggling, and they named one businessman, who is known to them to be involved, but they lack the hard evidence to move against him.

Meanwhile, closer to home, police sources say they have "a sort of a handle" on the illegal movements across the Corantijn River, where people leave and return through unauthorized ports of entry. The illegal use of the Corantijn River led to the establishment of the Berbice Anti-Smuggling Squad (BASS) which comes under the Customs and Trade Administration. However, BASS has been unable to stamp out the trade despite sporadic successes. So vast is the trade that established businesses complain about the impact of the smuggled goods on their sales.

Other border crossings, which the police have been unable to keep tabs on, are those to Venezuela via the North West District. The extent of the trade here can only be guessed at, but the large concentration of Guyanese living outside Caracas attests to the popularity of the route. However, this route is not as organized as the one to North America and the police have been able to stem the flow from time to time as they have caught persons using forged documents.


19 oktober 2004


Around four tons of drugs exited Guyana in 2001-2 -high-level source

Surveillance seen as key to nabbing drug lords

By Patrick Denny

Because the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) was undermanned in 2001-2, an estimated four tons of drugs passed through Guyana leading to its classification as a major transit point for narco-exports to the United States of America, a high-level source says.

The designation still stands today and sources tell Stabroek News that the issue is a major focus of investigation by US law enforcement agencies. In recent months US agencies have unravelled at least three drug export and money-laundering rings operating through the JFK airport in New York and other ports of entry.

The under-manning arose because CANU was unable to recruit the required staff as a result of the dual control of its operations by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Home Affairs. This led to administrative logjam.

"People fail to appreciate the amount of drugs that passed through here during that period", the high-level source who preferred to remain anonymous, said.

The administrative situation has improved but the last two batches of CANU recruits had to work for about three months before they were paid and officials at the law enforcement agency are still uncertain over the reasons for that problem.

With various setbacks, CANU's job of tackling drug trafficking became more difficult and sorely tested the resolve of its officers as personnel from the agency were targeted. Two of its senior officers, including its head, Vibert Inniss, were killed at the height of the 2002-3 crime spree and their murders remain unsolved. CANU's Homestretch Avenue headquarters also came under grenade attack.

There is now increased collaboration with the Police since its change in leadership earlier this year and the two agencies now conduct joint operations out of town and the Police provide expertise in the areas of fingerprinting and photography.

Sources noted that CANU has in recent weeks been able to intercept a number of cocaine shipments that were being exported as part of consignments of seafood. It has also intercepted a number of "mules" trying to leave Guyana through the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri with the drug concealed on, or in their bodies or hidden in false compartments of their luggage. However, it has signally failed to arrest the masterminds of the drug trafficking operations locally.

"Surveillance! Surveil-lance! Surveillance!" the high-level source, experienced in the prosecution of drug cases, declared "is what is key for successful prosecution of the drug lords".

The source told Stabroek News that unless time is invested in surveillance to build a case that could be successfully prosecuted, all that the law enforcement agencies would nab are the lower level operatives.

The source appreciates the difficulty posed in mounting an effective surveillance exercise. "If a foreigner comes into the country and just sits around the Pegasus poolside or some of the more exclusive hangouts that the drug lords frequent no one would bat an eyelid. But let a policeman be seen at the Pegasus and questions as to his reasons for being there soon arise as people feel that he doesn't earn enough money to hang out there".

"Some creative ways would have to be found to effect the surveillance given the nature of the Guyanese society which is essentially a small town where everybody knows everybody."

The source is also doubtful about how useful evidence that could be obtained from the court cases tried overseas would be in successfully prosecuting the drug lords here.

A senior police official has told Stabroek News that the investigations locally of the cocaine uncovered in mora sleepers that were shipped from Guyana last year to a company in Newport, Wales have been done and what was being awaited was information from the United Kingdom authorities.

Stabroek News understands that the information related to this case would not be released until the case against the last defendant is completed. That trial is due to start on November 5, 2004. The other six defendants were tried and convictions handed down last month but no details save for the result of the trial has been made public. Sources say that UK law enforcement authorities had travelled here to put at least one of the mora shipment suspects under surveillance at a city hotel prior to the bust in Wales and this could possibly be part of the evidence led in court.

Other sources have told Stabroek News that information on the case of the cocaine discovered in a shipment of Guyana molasses intercepted in The Netherlands is being awaited from the Dutch Police. A suspect in the case was arrested in the United Kingdom. The sources say that even the drug enforcement agency in Holland has been denied access to the information as they say it is a British case. Investigations here have established the sugar estate from which the molasses was bought and other information the Police have declined to reveal for fear of compromising the rest of the probe.

The officer says that when the information is received, the investigations here have established the sugar estate from which the molasses was bought and other information the Police have declined to reveal for fear of compromising the rest of the probe. The officer says that when the information is received, the investigations would be completed and the file passed to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for advice.

The sources confirmed that it is the DPP's Chambers that has to make the request for the evidence presented in the prosecution of the cases overseas. However, they point out that the protocol for receiving the evidence is as complex as the extradition process. "The DPP Chambers are now honing its skills on the procedures required," the source said.

According to a Government Information Agency (GINA) release, government officials have made clear that the fight against the narco-trade is a priority and that the government continues to seek cooperation and support from friendly countries. However, the high-level source says the reality is that the Police and CANU are hamstrung in their efforts to combat the illegal trafficking of drugs because there had been little or no coordination between the two bodies. The source says that coordination is fast improving now.

CANU was set up in 1995 and Lambert Marks, now Commissioner, Customs and Trade Administration, was appointed to head it. Since Marks' departure in June 2000, the agency has been without a substantive head. The present incumbent has been acting in the post since then. CANU operates independently of the Police although most of its members are ex-policemen and ex-members of the Guyana Defence Force. It derives its authority from the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act 1988. The act was amended in 1999 to provide legal cover for its operations.

Control of its operations is split between the Ministry of Home Affairs, which has responsibility for operational matters - previously with the Office of the President - and with the Ministry of Finance which retains control of financial and administrative matters.

The lack of coordination that used to exist is said to have stemmed from the perception that some sections of the Police had become so corrupt that they could not be expected to deal with the suppression of the illegal traffic in drugs efficiently. Some sources say that initially it was a turf fight with the Police under the then Commissioner who was intent on preventing any diminution of the responsibility of the Police Force.

Sources also point to the conflicting signals when persons charged by CANU are pictured with government officials who proclaim the uprightness of the individuals even before matters before the courts have been determined. One case in particular resulted in a number of charges and counter charges that were eventually dropped or discontinued while the substantive matters which the unit brought to the attention of the administration have not been addressed, sources say.

The record of some CANU officers has also been far from unblemished with the Home Affairs Ministry calling for some officers to be polygraphed before their contracts are renewed.


Initiatives taken to curb narco crime

GINA -- GUYANA is said to be one of the countries used as an in-transit route for drugs on the way to markets mainly in Europe and North America.

The situation has worsened with the ongoing narco war taking place in Colombia. Hence the apparent shifting of much of the drug trade to Guyana!

The PPP/C administration, realizing this, has been intensifying its efforts through various anti-narcotics agencies, to curb this illegal trade.

Here are some of measures it has taken to tackle narco-trafficking:


15 oktober 2004

Bus conductor jailed for cursing at policeman

Chief Magistrate Juliet Holder-Allen yesterday sentenced a bus conductor to two months in prison after he admitted using abusive language to a policeman. According to reports, Police Constable Liverpool was on Water Street in uniform when the defendant approached him and started using indecent language. He was taken to the Brickdam Police Station and charged. (Stabroek News)


Dutch terror charges dropped against 4 men

AMSTERDAM — The Public Prosecutor's Office (OM) has dropped the terrorism charges against four men accused of preparing attacks in the Netherlands. Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner went public with the arrests in mid-September, revealing that the four men were accused of preparing attacks against targets such as Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam and the Dutch Parliament in The Hague.

But the OM said on Thursday that insufficient evidence had been gathered for a successful prosecution of the four suspects, who had been arrested on 30 July this year. Investigations did not yield any evidence the suspects were part of a radical group or network. No links with other suspects were found either. But the OM said three of the suspects have been charged with possessing an illegal weapon and one of the suspects faces of charge of forging a passport.

One of the defence lawyers, Jacq Taekema, confirmed the terrorism charges had been dropped from the summons lodged against his client, a 28-year-old Muslim man from Suriname. The lawyer said the OM had previously accused the suspects of engaging in the preparations for murder, arson and an explosion, newspaper De Telegraaf reported. The remaining charges might also be dropped, he said. Taekema said the evidence compiled did not justify the continued detention on remand of his client. He asserted further that the OM had delayed announcing the arrests because it knew it did not have a strong case. The hearing will be held on 3 November and a ruling will be handed down two weeks later. {Copyright Expatica News 2004]

12 oktober 2004

Guyana soldiers on standby

for Grenada mission

THE 100 soldiers from the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) selected for deployment to Grenada to help rebuild the hurricane ravaged island are standing by to begin the mission. At a press briefing at the army’s Camp Ayanganna headquarters yesterday morning, Commander of the contingent, Lieutenant Colonel Bruce Lovell said they were awaiting word from the government on when to begin "Operation Phoenix".

They are well prepared and ready for the trip as soon as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces President Bharrat Jagdeo gives the go ahead, he said. Lovell said the ranks spent the past two weeks at Base Camp Seweyo on the Linden/Soesdyke Highway preparing for the mission. They built a camp to simulate the kind of field conditions they would be experiencing in Grenada, he said. They have also been vaccinated, Lovell told reporters.

The contingent includes 66 masons, carpenters, electricians, welders and plumbers. There will also be a security component, he said. In addition, there will be a medical aid outpost, which comprises of stretchers and medical equipment, ration store, the mess hall, commander's headquarters with water, rice, oil, mattresses among other items. Lovell said that while in Grenada, the soldiers will continue to receive a salary and will get an overseas allowance.

Some of the Guyanese soldiers will head to Grenada on the GDFS Essequibo, the army vessel which has participated in the annual regional `Tradewinds’ security exercises. The others will be flown into the island. Lovell said the trip by boat is expected to take some 40 hours. He explained that the soldiers will restore essential services and distribute relief supplies, among other tasks.

The Grenadian authorities will be responsible for providing the materials to do the jobs but Guyana will be responsible for the food supplies and other necessities for the local soldiers on the humanitarian mission. The stint is expected to last six months. The soldiers are based at Camp Ayanganna awaiting deployment to Grenada which was devastated by Hurricane Ivan when it struck the island early last month. Guyana is among several Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries rallying to help Grenada rebuild after the deadly storm which destroyed some 90 per cent of the infrastructure on the tine south Caribbean island.

Shortly after, President Jagdeo attended an emergency summit of CARICOM leaders in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad where they discussed a coordinated programme of assistance to the island. Guyana has offered to fly home Guyanese living there who want to return while the rebuilding is under way and the first batch of 50 arrived here Friday. The government is also coordinating relief through the Civil Defence Commission with the Private Sector Commission and the joint response has seen the provision of humanitarian aid to Grenada by air and sea.

Religious ands other groups have collected donations for Grenadians in need. The government has provided some $40M in sugar supplies to the island and has promised to take secondary school students who are in final preparation for the Caribbean Advance Proficiency Examination (CAPE) from the island. Grenada's education infrastructure has been totally wiped out with students having no option of going to school. Cabinet has instructed Education Minister, Dr. Henry Jeffrey to finalise arrangements for the education system to accommodate a contingent of Grenadian CAPE students at its Sixth Form level. At present, the number of students is estimated at 50, but the CARICOM Secretariat has to determine the final figure, the Government Information Agency said.


Soldier picked for Grenada murdered in alleged affair

A GUYANA Defence Force (GDF) soldier, among the troops identified for deployment to Grenada, was murdered in an alleged triangular love affair yesterday. Corporal Errol John Lance , 26, was leaving his home village, Sandvoort, West Canje, for Camp Ayanganna in Georgetown, when he was fatally stabbed about 05:00 hours, some 100 metres from where he lived.

An eyewitness said the victim was wounded by another man who rode up to him on a bicycle and inflicted several knife stabs on a canefield dam before throwing the bloodied body into a nearby trench and riding away from the scene. The witness said he and some other sugar estate employees, who were awaiting transport, took John out of the water but he died before receiving medical attention and his body is at New Amsterdam Hospital mortuary, awaiting a post mortem examination.

The deceased was linked romantically to Candyceann Amsterdam Joe who was stabbed in the abdomen and left arm allegedly by the same assailant. But the woman denied the affair, saying she did not know John, who also resided in the same village. She said she was asleep in her home when she was awakened by her husband, Allan Joe also known as Allan Williams. Speaking to the Chronicle, still in her bloodstained clothing, Candyceann, 26, too, said she would be removing from the house where she was attacked and returning to Bara Cara, along Canje River, also in Berbice, from where she hails.

Father of the mother-of-three, Lowell Amsterdam, who was in the home, said he was about to return to Canje River when he heard his daughter shout: “Daddy, I done.” He said he saw his son-in-law pushing a knife towards Candyceann and he and his wife, Maycil, suffered wounds on their fingers while disarming the attacker. Candyceann fled the house and a relative took her to New Amsterdam Hospital, as well, where her wounds were attended.

Amsterdam said he told his daughter to end the relationship with her husband. The couple celebrated their first wedding anniversary on September 7, after living together for seven years. Meanwhile, the murder suspect is in police custody as investigations continue.
 

11 oktober 2004

Weapons shipment seized in Barbados

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados: Barbados Customs officials have seized a container shipment of weapons consigned to the United States Embassy in Bridgetown, Barbados.

Caribbean Net News was told that the shipment allegedly includes M16s and an assortment of other high-powered and deadly weapons which, according to highly placed sources, when the first shipment arrived in the country and queries were made, officials at the US Embassy is alleged to have said that the weapons were brought in for the Regional Security System (RSS).

However, Caribbean Net News understands that, when it became known that a second shipment had arrived in town, government officials in Bridgetown became "jittery." Top officials in Barbados' Ministry of Foreign Affairs is said to have demanded an explanation from the United States Ambassador Mary Kramer who reportedly apologised for the absence of sound documentation.

Word reaching Caribbean Net News indicates that the weapons were only in Barbados on a trans-shipment basis but were actually destined for the Caribbean islands of St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. It has also been reported that Ambassador Kramer was told in no uncertain terms that, the Government and people of Barbados do not approve of such behaviour.

The container carrying the deadly weapons is still with the Customs Department and one official told Caribbean Net News that the container would not "leave their sight" until the correct procedure had been followed.

The naming of St. Lucia as well as St. Vincent and the Grenadines has raised eyebrows across the region. Caribbean Net News attempted to contact CARICOM's Chairman, Grenada's Prime Minister, Dr. Keith Mitchell for comment but he was unavailable (by Norman 'Gus' Thomas)
Caribbean Net News Special Correspondent


5 oktober 2004

NAPLES, Italy 

Leaders of 17 navies from West Africa, Europe and the United States met this week to discuss opportunities for cooperation and enhanced maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea region.

The conference was an opportunity in which the naval leadership of these African nations could discuss and address their common interests, challenges and threats, including the threats posed by a rising tide in piracy, smuggling and drug trafficking. U.S. European Command sponsored the three-day 2004 Gulf of Guinea Maritime Security Conference, hosted by Adm. Gregory Johnson, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Europe.

"The fight against terrorism has demonstrated to all of us a new demand for integrated maritime security, especially in coastal regions," said Johnson. "The nations bordering the Gulf of Guinea are certainly no exception to that reality. What we hoped to achieve, and what I think we accomplished through this conference, was a process for open dialogue and cooperation between these navies to deal with their common challenges."

Participants included naval leaders from Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Nigeria, Republic of Congo (Brazzaville), Sao Tome and Principe, and Togo. Other attendees included France, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The conference featured discussions about combating piracy; the illegal trafficking of weapons, drugs and people; and the need to reduce maritime threats to economic development, such as those over national fishing rights and offshore oil production. Senior participants signed a joint declaration at the conference's end pledging their support to ongoing dialogue, cooperation and activities.

"The fight against global threats to peace and security can only be effective within the context of global partnership and shared responsibility," noted Ambassador Ahmedou Ould-Adallah, U.N. special representative for West Africa. "For that reason, I would like to praise the initiative of this conference." Johnson echoed that feeling. "The spirit of cooperation and mutual support displayed this week was simply incredible," he noted. "It will be that same spirit that helps us foster closer and more effective working relationships over the long haul. I couldn't have been more pleased with the robust participation and enthusiasm these naval leaders brought to the discussion."

(Based on a release from U.S. European Command.)


1 oktober 2004

Bandits snatch over $1M from Banks truck

Two armed motorcycle bandits robbed a Banks DIH delivery truck of some $1,360,800 yesterday morning on the Enmore Public Road, East Coast Demerara. The bandits struck around 9.30 am while the truck GEE 1850 was proceeding in the vicinity of Log Wood Enmore.

Police have since taken the three employees who were on the vehicle at the time into custody. A release from the Police Public Relations Department disclosed that the driver salesman and two porters had delivered a quantity of beer to a business place in the village and had collected the sum of money for the delivery when the bandits struck.

The police said the money was put into a black bag and placed on the seat in the cab between two of the three persons who were proceeding to Georgetown via the Enmore Old Road. At this point one of the porters requested that the truck be stopped so that he could urinate. It is alleged that during this time, the two bandits confronted and accosted the driver and the other porter who were in the cab. The bandit then sprayed a noxious substance in their faces, relieved them of the bag with money and escaped on a motorcycle. (Stabroek news)

 

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