…U.S. to share intelligence

THERE is a link between the illegal airstrips, aircraft and drug trafficking here, says United States Ambassador to Guyana, Perry Holloway.
The U.S. Envoy during an exclusive interview with the Guyana Chronicle on Thursday said the link must be addressed in the context of Guyana’s landscape. He explained that illegal airstrips and the discovery of aircraft in the country’s hinterland regions is a very complicated subject.

“Guyana is a very large and very under-developed in terms of infrastructure, roads especially…so there are a lot of illegal airstrips out there,” said Ambassador Holloway who explained that while some of the airstrips are illegal, they may not be used for illegal purposes. Conversely, the opposite occurs given Guyana’s proximity to the source of drugs, namely: Peru, Bolivia and Columbia. The Ambassador believes that the problem is that no one knows the number of illegal airstrips that exists, because Guyana lacks the resources to determine same.

“…you need planes that can fly regular reconnaissance missions…you need people out on the ground checking it out…and there are not enough police to do the basic crime-fighting,” he observed, noting that it would not be wise to strip the basic crime-fighting resources to look for what can be considered needles in a haystack. “A lot of these airstrips I would admit are just because, some rancher, some farmer, some miner, has decided that the only way to get things in here on a regular basis is to fly them in,” said the U.S. envoy, who noted that those residing and or operating businesses in the hinterland have failed to go through the procedure to have the airstrips recognised by the authorities.
“Yes, there are a lot of illegal airstrips, but not all of them are there for narco-trafficking, but however Guyana is in a location that lends itself to using these airstrips for narco-trafficking and they are geographically very close to the source of drugs, Bolivia, Peru and Colombia,” he said, noting that there are vast lands which are unpatrolled by the police or military.

Only recently, the Ambassador visited Lethem and as the aircraft in which he was travelling descended, he was struck by the vast landmass and the fact that there was no sign of human beings anywhere. “You could build an airstrip and no one would know,” he said. Notwithstanding the complex nature of the matter, Ambassador Holloway told the Guyana Chronicle that U.S. intelligence on illegal airstrips would be shared with the Government of Guyana.

“We have not seen an increase in the last two or three years so, I can’t tell you we have seen a big decrease either. There is no indication that it is getting worse. Most airstrips were built for a reason that you and I would say is almost legal, but some of the bad guys take advantage of it,” Holloway reasoned.

Abandoned plane
In August, the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) discovered an aircraft abandoned on the illegal airstrip it uncovered two weeks ago at five miles west of Santa Fe in the North Rupununi. The twin-engine Beechcraft King Air 350 aircraft which bears registration PR-IMG is reportedly tied to an investment bank in neighbouring Brazil. The financial institution, Banco Bradesco, facilitated the sale of the aircraft between its owners, a Rio-based company and another private entity.
The bank is listed by the Brazilian authorities as the owner, since the process of transfer of ownership is ongoing. President David Granger had stated that the incident is being treated as a public security matter. “We know that people were running away from the plane and if they were wounded or injured, they would not have been running…” President Granger said on Wednesday. The Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) has also been instrumental in the investigation as it probed the authenticity of the Brazilian registration attached to the aircraft.

The discovery of the twin-engine aircraft was made just a few weeks after soldiers had found another illegal airstrip, a chain saw, aviation fuel, 12 abandoned camps and several dug-out trenches in the same area. Government has since said that it will be working with local and international partners to build capacity and strengthen security here. The government said too that it is making every effort to better equip its forces to monitor and secure the country.

Meanwhile, in light of government’s announcement that it intends to establish a drone unit within the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) to monitor remote communities and is likely to budget for same in the 2018 national budget, the U.S. Ambassador believes the technology can be useful in the long term. “There is no doubt that some of the issues Guyana faces could probably be improved through the use of technology; drones are one of those technologies. I worked on programmes that have used drones for different things and they can do a lot,” he stated.

Ambassador Holloway was however quick to point out that with the use of sophisticated technology such as drones, the government must take into consideration, the training needed for those who are to operate the devices, as well as the maintenance of the drones. “…especially in the difficult environment in which they’d be operating here in Guyana, that is pretty expensive and difficult.

There certainly is technology out there and I think due to the vast distances and the very low number of people that something like drone technology in the long term makes sense, but again, do you want to put money into that or you want to put money into hiring more police or building schools or hospitals? That’s the dilemma that the government and people of Guyana face,” said the U.S. envoy.

Minister of State Joseph Harmon had said at a post-Cabinet press briefing early in September that the use of drone technology was something that is being actively considered and proposals have been made to Government. In fact, Harmon disclosed that some companies are scheduled to make proposals about the quality and type that can be utilised. “Drone technology is basically the way the world is going right now. We have been utilising some commercial ones for certain limited use, currently, but we are exploring the farther type drones that can stay in the air for longer periods of time and can give you more accurate readings,” he declared.

“… [drones] allow you to cover greater ground which reduces the number of personnel or troops you’d have to use on the ground. It also gives you coverage of areas that are inaccessible otherwise,” Harmon stated.