GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Sept. 12, CMC – In an attempt to clamp down on illegal activities along the Corentyne River which borders Guyana and Suriname, security officials have agreed to implement a joint patrol.
In making the announcement on Thursday , Chief-of-Staff of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), Rear Admiral Gary Best said he hopes that the joint patrols by the GDF Coast Guard and the Suriname Navy could begin in another six months.
He also pointed to the importance of having technical teams and Attorneys General of both countries to discuss who would have the right of arrest as the Corentyne River is Suriname’s territory.
“The issue of jurisdiction obviously has to be dealt with and that will be dealt with at the highest level…. what we are attempting to do is to work within the river and avoid the issue of any conflict over the rights of the river. It’s really do to do with law enforcement,” Best said
Authorities hope to clamp down on piracy, illegal fishing and illegal smuggling of guns, ammunition, drugs, human trafficking, illegal migration and violation of customs duties by businessmen. Dating back to the early 1900s when Guyana and Suriname were British and Dutch colonies, the European powers had agreed that the line of the deepest channel in the Corentyne was the boundary between the two territories.
