PARAMARIBO – Bus drivers who transport passengers from Albina to Paramaribo and vice versa recently expressed grave concern over the fact that the police have beefed up surveillance and vehicle inspections at the checkpoint located at Stolkertsijver.
They criticized the police for arresting bus drivers who transport people who do not have valid travel documents on suspected human trafficking charges. The bus drivers explained that it is not reasonable to place the responsibility for checking the travel documents of their passengers on their shoulders. They made it clear that bus drivers neither work for immigration services nor for the police. “We cannot possibly determine if a passport is real or if somebody has a valid visa to stay in Suriname. There are authorized people that have been trained specifically for that,” said a bus driver who has transported passengers on the Albina-Paramaribo route for many years. The bus drivers fear that the new policy will affect their work. “We transport dozens of passengers every day and we neither have the knowledge nor the authority to check travel papers. If we were to ask the passengers to see their papers, they may respond aggressively.” The bus drivers urge the government to beef up inspections at the border posts where travelers enter the country. “When somebody is already in Suriname, they expect us to also check the travel papers. That is not fair and not executable,” said another bus driver.
