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News from the Caribbean as of
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Police discover active illegal arms trade between Suriname and Guyana
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
by Ivan Cairo
Caribbean Net News Suriname Correspondent
Email: ivan@caribbeannetnews.com
PARAMARIBO, Suriname: During a press conference last week, Suriname’s Prosecutor General announced that police have discovered an active illegal arms trade between Guyana and Suriname.
The illegal arms trades, which have occurred for at least two years, involve Surinamese criminals exchanging guns and ammunition with Guyanese criminals for cocaine.
The discovery was made during a special investigation of missing weapons from a police depot. A massive investigation was launched in February following the theft of 181 hand grenades and ammunition from an army facility.
Related to this crime, 19 civilians and 6 soldiers, including an army captain, 3 sergeants and 2 corporals were detained. Thus far, 138 hand grenades have been recovered along with quantities of ammunition. Police believe the remaining 43 hand grenades have already been moved into Guyana.
The Prosecutor General announced that detainees provided evidence indicating the main suspects are still at large.
According to reports, the masterminds behind this operation have traveled at least 25 times from the border town of Nickerie to neighboring Guyana during the last two years to exchange weapons for cocaine.
Punwasi was surprised that an operation of this magnitude went unnoticed by law enforcement agencies for over two years.
“We have discovered that automatic assault rifles, hand grenades and handguns were exchanged for coke. The weapons were brought from Paramaribo to Nickerie and subsequently across the Corantijn River. In broad daylight, suspects were buying cocaine with US currency in Guyana,” said the judicial official.
He further noted that police intelligence confirmed the suspects planned to assassinate the five detectives assigned to the case. However, before those plans were executed, the police SWAT team arrested many members of the organized crime operation.
According to the Prosecutor General, there are strong indications that individuals employed by both the military and police service assisted the main suspects in transporting illegal weapons.
The main suspects have also been accused of human smuggling along the back track route in Nickerie where Brazilian and Guyanese nationals were allegedly assisted to enter Suriname illegally.
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