The objective is to protect Suriname’s territorial waters, defend its economic zone from illegal fishing, drug-trafficking and piracy and fight maritime crime activities, especially with the upsurge of piracy from neighbouring Guyana that has been terrorizing Guyanese fishermen. Guyanese fishermen have turned to Suriname for help. Just last week, four Guyanese pirates were arrested in Suriname waters in the Coronie area. Kumar Doodnauth, former chairman of the Upper Corentyne Fishermen’s Co-op Society told Guyana’s Kaieteur News back in February “that the judicial system is very weak in Guyana and even if the hijackers are caught — which rarely happens — the process can be compromised. If you talk to these fishermen, they are just fed up with the legal system — from the magistrate to the police — you getting harassed out there and when you come here, they also harass you.” “We got a problem in this country, which everybody knows. If you are an investigating rank and you know that someone has been identified – some where down the line, someone is going to take a pay off – that’s what we got to deal with.”
Posted on: Sun, 08 Sep 2013 13:41:39 +0000