Friday, October 27, 2006

by Ivan Cairo
Caribbean Net News Suriname Correspondent
Email: ivan@caribbeannetnews.com

PARAMARIBO, Suriname: In a crackdown against pirates along the Surinamese coast, authorities recently have arrested five Brazilian nationals on smuggling charges, police officials confirmed.

The Suriname Police Force and the National Army stepped up joint patrols at sea after a series of armed robberies against fishermen earlier this month. In a press release the police further informed that “good spirited” citizens provided boat transportation in order for the troops to execute the patrols.

During these patrols the past couple of days several fishing boats and other vessels were inspected in order to determine whether all their paper work was in order and their presence in Surinamese waters was legal.

Near the mouth of the Matapica River, police boarded a Brazilian schooner with a five men crew and subsequently arrested the five men since the captain couldn’t produce proper documents for the cargo on his vessel.

Among the cargo were electrical motors, a generator, water pumps, spare parts, compressors and several boxes of whiskey. Both cargo and vessel were confiscated and the crew jailed on smuggling charges.

Minister of Defense, Ivan Fernald, informed journalists that the joint patrols will continue, to free Surinamese coastal waters from illegal and criminal activities.

The first week of October fishermen have reported at least seven armed robberies at sea by pirates. According to the victims, the attacks, carried out by at least three masked gunmen, took place along the entire coastal area stretching from the Potosibank in the west to Marowijne in the east. At gunpoint victims were ordered to hand over not only outboard motors of their vessels, but also other valuables, fuel and raw fish.

Most cases of piracy in Surinamese waters were never solved, while last year several suspects were arrested and brought to justice after hijacking a boat and eventually traveled to a fishermen’s camp to commit other crimes.

Due to a lack of adequate and seaworthy patrol boats, controlling the Suriname coastal and territorial waters is extremely difficult. The governments of the Netherlands and the US have offered assistance in establishing a Suriname coast guard and proposals are still being studied by the Surinamese authorities.

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