Guyana, Brazil to develop Joint Strike Force to tackle crimes

President Dr Irfaan Ali has announced that Guyana and Brazil are in the process of developing a Joint Strike Force to address crimes along the countries’ shared border.

He made the announcement on Wednesday during the opening ceremony of the Annual Police Officers’ Conference.

“I’ve mandated the Chief of Defence Staff, Commissioner of Police and the Director of NISA (National Intelligence and Security Agency), the director of CANU (Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit) …I’ve asked them and I’ve already discussed with the Governor of Roraima for us to develop an integrated joint strike force to operate along the border,” the President said.

In a subsequent interview with the media, the Head of State explained that the strike force will play an integral role in combatting transnational crimes.

“The nature of transnational crime across the border is changing,” the President noted as he referenced previous successful joint collaborations in dismantling certain criminal activities.

“We want to coordinate more so we’re exploring how we can integrate a team that is trained to work together…because in security operations, it is very important that teams are trained to work together,” he noted.

Asked about the duration of the mission, the President noted that the plan is to make it institutionalised.

“Sharing of intelligence, sharing of information, joint operations and those things,” he explained.

Recently, police and prosecutors from Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana and Suriname joined forces in their first ever transnational operation to combat illegal gold mining.

The cross-border operation involved over 24,500 checks on vehicles and individuals and led to almost 200 arrests.

These include the detention in Guyana of three men on suspicion of gold smuggling and money laundering.

They were reportedly carrying unprocessed gold and US$590,000 in cash and are alleged to be members of a major organized crime group with possible links to a leading Guyana gold exporting firm.

Meanwhile, President Ali said Guyana is hoping to develop a similar arrangement with Surinamese authorities.