Country Reports on Terrorism 2007 - Suriname

Suriname's lead agency for counterterrorism was the Central Intelligence and Security Agency (CIVD). The Ministry of Justice and Police (MOJP) had a police Anti-Terrorist Unit (ATU) and a 70-person "Arrest Team" (A-Team). At the end of the year, the Council of Ministers approved a new counterterrorism law that defined terrorism as a crime, and provided a framework for more effectively combating terrorism and the financing of terrorism. This legislation 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. The draft law will be presented to the State Council and the President for their approval, after which it will be presented to the National Assembly. A criminal procedure law is expected to be approved by the Council of Ministers, which will provide 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.

Suriname began issuing Caribbean Community (CARICOM)-compliant machine-readable passports in 2004, yet there were still numerous valid old passports in circulation, which could easily be tampered with in order to assume a false identity to travel across borders. An unknown number of blank old-style passports remained unaccounted for. 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 by police and other Surinamese government officials, and because Suriname has no 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. In December, the Minister of Justice and Police told the media that his Ministry had received information that international criminal organizations were planning attacks in Suriname. According to the Minister, there were arrests over a two-week period late in the year, and investigations had pointed to involvement of the FARC and unspecified African crime organizations. As of late December, no further information was available on those allegations and no attacks had occurred.