GEORGETOWN, Guyana – Authorities in Guyana ordered drug enforcement agents to take a lie-detector test as they restructure a department criticised for being inefficient.

President Bharrat Jagdeo said last Wednesday that officials in the South American country would use test results to decide what changes were needed.

Orville Nedd, director of the Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit, blamed a shortage of staff
and equipment on the
lack of major drug arrests
this year. The agency also struggles to get police and
the military to help with interdictions and monitor illegal airstrips in the
country's interior, he said.

Nedd declined to say how many agents took the test or how much it cost.

Karen Williams, acting American ambassador in Guyana, praised the new measure. The United States, which has criticised Guyana's efforts to curb drug trafficking, did not recommend the tests although they are a normal procedure for top FBI and
DEA agents, she said.

Jagdeo recently asked the United States to open a DEA office in Guyana. (AP)