2009 Country Reports on Terrorism - Suriname

Suriname's lead agency for counterterrorism is the Central Intelligence and Security Agency. The Ministry of Justice and Police has a police Counterterrorist Unit and a 50-person "Arrest Team." At the end of 2007, the Council of Ministers approved a new draft counterterrorism law that defined terrorism as a crime, and provided a framework for more effectively combating terrorism and the financing of terrorism. This draft legislation was approved by the State Council and the President in 2008, and was presented to the National Assembly for discussion. As of 2009, the legislation has not been passed. However, if the legislation is passed, it should bring Surinamese law in line with various international treaties dealing with terrorism and could help pave the way for Surinamese membership in the Egmont Group. A draft criminal procedure law was approved by the Council of Ministers in February 2008, which provides the implementing legislation for the new counterterrorism law, as well as special investigative tools to assist law enforcement authorities in detecting and investigating terrorist activities.

In an effort to enhance its border security capabilities, as well as hamper potential terrorist transit, Suriname began issuing Caribbean Community-compliant machine-readable passports in 2004. The United States provided watch lists of known terrorists to Surinamese police, but if any terrorists were present, the likelihood of apprehending them would be low because of the lack of border and immigration control, and because Suriname has no digitized system for registering and monitoring visitors. According to police sources, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) has conducted arms-for-drugs operations with criminal organizations in Suriname.