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