VZCZCXRO5046
RR RUEHGR
DE RUEHPO #0033 0181905
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 181905Z JAN 06
FM AMEMBASSY PARAMARIBO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7969
INFO RUCNCOM/EC CARICOM COLLECTIVE
RUEHAO/AMCONSUL CURACAO 0932
RUEHTC/AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE 1506
RUEANHA/FAA HQ WASHDC

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