Canada to put $300,000 into drug-busting unit

Canada yesterday pledged CAN$330,000 towards the establishment of a regional counter-drugs intelligence school for the Caribbean, to be headquartered in T&T. This was revealed by Canada’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Diane Ablonczy during a commemorative coin-presentation ceremony at the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Tower C, Waterfront Complex, Port-of-Spain.

It was held in observance of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Canada and T&T. Canada’s Governor General David Johnston attended the event. In her brief address, Ablonczy said the school seeks “to increase regional law enforcement’s capacity to develop and analyse counter-drugs intelligence and to promote greater co-operation and exchange of information.”

She also said Canada will, via the intra-regional programme called the Santo Domingo Pact and Managua Mechanism, co-ordinate the expertise needed to target transnational organised crime. Ablonczy said it would be done in partnership with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, adding the Canadian Government will provide “a further $900,000 for this project, bringing our total contribution to $1.6 million.”

She said Canada fully supported a computer-based intelligence-gathering system for national and international drug control. Earlier, Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Surujrattan Rambachan said he expected the support of Canada in July towards the establishment of a legally-binding international instrument to “regulate the trade in conventional weapons, including those stipulated under the UN Register of Conventional Arms, as well as small arms, light weapons and their ammunition.”