Minister of Home Affairs Oneidge Walrond says Guyana’s fight against the illegal drug trade has become increasingly focused on transnational criminal networks, as the country continues to confront its role as a route for narcotics moving between major markets.
“The drugs are moving through Guyana to get to Africa and Europe, and so the policies and programmes and operations that we are currently implementing is to circumvent that.
“Transnational criminal organisations should not find a safe haven in Guyana, and that is what we have been able to uproot,” Walrond said during an appearance on the Starting Point podcast.
Walrond explained that narcotics are being moved through Guyana as part of wider trafficking routes destined for Africa and Europe. As such, she said government policies, programmes and operations are therefore being designed not only to intercept drugs, but also to disrupt the networks facilitating their movement through the country.
Acknowledging that local law enforcement authorities have been doing a good job in terms of narcotics seizures, Walrond said the nature of the drug trade means the response can no longer be handled by a single law-enforcement agency.
As such, she said the approach to combat the issue as been an inter-agency one.
Walrond pointed to increased international cooperation as part of the government’s response, citing strengthened relationships with agencies including INTERPOL and the US Marshals Service.
She said those partnerships have allowed Guyana to build its capacity to tackle drug trafficking and other forms of organised crime that operate across national borders.
“Cooperation with INTERPOL, the US Marshals Service, we have cemented and built on those relationships, and we are doing more in terms of combatting drugs through these transnational organisations and organised crime,” Walrond said.
CANU Head James Singh has previously said Guyana’s geographical location, he explained, places the country between major drug-producing and consumer markets, making it vulnerable to transnational trafficking networks.
Source: NEW ROOMS SITE
