In the past month

TWENTY-FOUR foreign nationals, within the past month, have been nabbed for entering Guyana illegally via the Suriname ‘backtrack’ route as law enforcement officials heightened vigilance of the country’s borders to ensure compliance with COVID-19 restrictions.

The borders were closed since March in an effort to help curtail the spread of the novel coronavirus, but have been a challenge since Guyana shares borders with three other countries.

Guyana has seen a surge in the number of positive cases as more testing are being done and many have been blaming this increase on the illegal immigrants from Brazil, Venezuela and Suriname as well as Guyanese returning from the said countries.

Within the past month, in East Berbice, Corentyne, some 24 foreign nationals have been arrested and placed in quarantine. The most recent being on Friday night when two separate police operations intercepted 11 Cubans.

Previously, two other sets of seven and six foreigners were arrested and tested.  Five from the group of seven tested positive while a Guyanese, who was the taxi driver for the group, escaped from the quarantine facility in East Canje, Berbice before he could be tested.

Officials are still trying to locate him. The second group of six was swabbed but the results are yet to be returned. They remain in quarantine.

Boat operators have been charging as much as US$500 per person to ferry them from Nikerie to Guyana using modified fishing vessels and passenger boats fitted with larger engines to outrun the coastguard or police boats. Previously, this journey cost a maximum of US$20.

Given the economic slowdown due to the virus, many have jumped at the opportunity and have been making arrangements with taxi drivers hoping to capitalise on the situation. Commander of District 6, Calvin Brutus, in an invited comment, appealed to the operators to let good sense prevail and to cease their operations for the safety of all Guyanese.

“Look beyond the profits. Consider the safety of yourself and family. But more importantly, you are breaking the law and putting the entire society at risk for a few dollars. Is it really worth the risk?” he asked.

The divisional top cop continued that those found guilty will be prosecuted and is appealing to residents to speak out and expose the guilty since these rogue individuals are endangering the lives of all by their selfish actions.

Brutus explained to the Guyana Chronicle that the “smuggling” usually occurs mainly in the nights and there is no fixed point of entry which makes it difficult to track. Depending on the tide, there are a myriad of areas where boats can moor to offload passengers.

This distance spans several miles between the Corentyne River. Most of these points of entries are within walking distance of the public road and major streets where pre-arranged taxis usually await the passengers to take them to their destination before the cops arrive.

Notwithstanding this challenge, intelligence-led operations have netted some success over the past weeks with approximately 30 persons arrested.

The ‘B’ Division commander is expanding his efforts to try and capture the boat operators as well so that their vessels can be seized, which will put a dent into the illegal operations while setting an example that will hopefully deter others from trying to commit similar acts.

East Berbice, Corentyne, until a week ago, recorded only one positive case but now have eight new cases of the COVID-19 virus, five of these are Cubans who entered the country illegally through the Guyana-Suriname ‘backtrack’ route.