Travelers with unpaid traffic fines will not be allowed to leave Suriname

People who go to the Johan Adolf Pengel (JAP) International Airport to board a plane and depart will not be allowed to leave the country after December 15 if they have an unpaid traffic fine. Chief Inspector Humphrey Naarden, head of the Public Relations Office at the Police Force Suriname (KPS), warns traffic violators who have been convicted in traffic court to pay their traffic fine. The chief inspector explained that he has noticed that traffic violators are reluctant to pay their traffic tickets. That is why the Automated License Plates Registration System (ANRS) department has also established an office at the JAP International Airport. The ANRS is tasked with executing traffic verdicts. “The perpetrators may be arrested on the spot so that they can be brought straight to the Santo Boma State Penitentiary to serve their prison sentences”, said the chief inspector. In order to prevent being pulled aside at the passport checkpoint at the airport, the police are urging travelers to visit the ANRS seven days before their departure to check if they have been sentenced in traffic court. The ANRS is open from Monday till Friday from 7 am until 10 am. But the people who are about to leave Suriname are not the only ones who risk being arrested over unpaid traffic tickets. People who arrive at the JAP International Airport and who have been sentenced in Traffic Court will also be confronted with their verdict. They will be given three days to report to the ANRS to pay the traffic ticket. Reports indicate that traffic violators often give fake addresses to the police to avoid having to pay their traffic fine. The new measure is clearly aimed at extending the long arm of the (traffic) law.