INL ASSISTANCE CONTRIBUTING TO CASH SMUGGLING

UNCLAS PARAMARIBO 000033 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR WHA/CAR - LLUFTIG DEPT FOR INL/LP NBOZZOLO, KBROWN CARACAS FOR LEGATT FAA FOR JWALTZ E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KCRM SNAR PGOV PREL NS SUBJECT: INL ASSISTANCE CONTRIBUTING TO CASH SMUGGLING INVESTIGATION REFS: (A) 05 PARAMARIBO 387 (B) 05 SECSTATE 122324 ¶1. (U) Summary. On December 29 Surinamese police in the western district of Nickerie seized USD 391,000 from a Guyanese man attempting to board a boat to neighboring Guyana after leaping from a helicopter that dropped him on the bank of the Corantijn River. Post's INL assistance is playing a role in police efforts to investigate and process the case on several levels. End Summary. ¶2. (U) The Guyanese man faces charges of violating Suriname's financial laws, namely not declaring the transport of over USD 10,000 out of the country, and possibly for money laundering. Four Surinamers have also been arrested in the case, including an owner of a foreign exchange office. The pilot of the helicopter is in custody as the investigation into the nature of his involvement continues. He may face sanctions for deviating from his stated non-stop flight path from Paramaribo to Nickerie's airfield. The helicopter operated by Hi Jet Helicopter Service is U.S. registered and one local paper asserted that it was operating in violation of FAA regulations (for more on helicopters see reftels). ¶3. (U) Post's INL assistance program has provided law enforcement authorities the tools to help handle the investigation. The Nickerie police department is using desktop computers supplied by the INL program to communicate and send documents via internet to police headquarters in Paramaribo. Nickerie inspectors told the Embassy that the ability to scan items into the computer and then email them to Paramaribo is much quicker and more reliable than by their previous method of communicating by fax machine. Two of the inspectors assigned to the investigation are applying skills learned during their participation in a FBI conducted law enforcement course on Information Gathering Techniques. ¶4. (U) A significant INL project over the last several months has been the purchase and development of a Criminal Records Database to replace an outmoded and inefficient paper record keeping system for the police. The database is scheduled to be on-line by the end of this month, and in preparation, Suriname's forensics unit in Paramaribo has been scanning old photos into the system. Using the new computer photo files, police were able to dramatically lessen the time needed to confirm the identity of a suspect after police in Nickerie scanned photos and emailed them to the records unit in Paramaribo. Police are formatting the information obtained from the investigation so that it can be inputted into the new database system. ¶5. (U) Suriname's Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) is part of a joint task force assigned to investigate possible money laundering charges in the case. When the FIU was first established in 2003, INL money played an important part in getting the unit on its feet by providing most of its office furniture and equipment along with computers. Since then, Post's INL program has provided the FIU with additional supplies, such as secure filing cabinets for its records. BARNES