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– Regional Commander
The number of persons entering Guyana illegally via the Guyana-Suriname ‘backtrack’ crossing at Springlands, Corriverton, Region Six has reportedly been reduced as the Guyana Police Force (GPF) and the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) have been jointly patrolling the Corentyne River.
In an interview with Village Voice Guyana, Regional Commander Senior Superintendent, Linden Isles said the Force has not received any complaints of persons entering Guyana via the backtrack route for several weeks noting that constant joint patrols may have been responsible for the reduction in the numbers of persons attempting to enter the country illegally from neighbouring Suriname.
“From time to time we would arrest persons who try to use their boats and come across. Even though police were placed at some points where they are known to drop off these immigrants, they would at times use other locations but we were able to get that under control and have a stronger patrol system on our border to keep our residents safe and make it easier for our nation to battle this virus without having imported cases that will put further strain on our fight against COVID,” Isles told Village Voice.
Isles said the GPF is doing all in its power to safeguard residents of the East Berbice-Corentyne Region. “Over the past months, we have had numerous complaints of persons continuously brining in immigrants from Suriname, often times we are able to apprehend them through an intelligence led operation. Through our roadblocks and checkpoint at the Berbice Bridge we arrested in excess of 30 foreign nationals all of whom were placed in quarantine and underwent COVID tests before being handed over for deportation,” the Regional Commander said.
Guyana’s airports and other ports of entry were closed since March but it was discovered that many boat operators were transporting persons between Guyana and Suriname at nights. Village Voice Guyana was reliably informed that the operators were being paid as much as US$100 per trip across the river.
Back in August, the GPF arrested several Cuban nationals in Berbice, after they illegally entered Guyana from Suriname. Some of the illegal immigrants had tested positive for COVID-19.
Meanwhile, Commander Isles said that the Force has embarked on a number of initiatives aimed at sensitizing persons on the dangers of COVID-19, importance of wearing masks and maintaining social distancing while adhering to the other COVID-19 measures that have been promulgated by the Ministry of Health.
“We are using the vehicles with a mic daily, going around between 13:00hrs and 22:00hrs to educate persons on what they should do and what must be done to protect themselves. Also, we are going around ensuring everyone knows when the curfew ends, what time they are expected to close shops; these are for essential businesses, and as for rum shops and bars those are to be closed,” Isles told Village Voice.
On Monday, Guyana recorded 52 new COVID-19 cases bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 3521. There have been 104 deaths. Suriname has recorded more than 5,000 cases.
