From:TheBahamasWeekly.com
Bahamian drug pushers using TCI as a trans-shipment point, says US State Department
By Turks & Caicos Sun
Mar 13, 2012 - 11:28:26 PM
Bahamian drug trafficking organizations are using the Turks and Caicos Islands as a transshipment point.
This was revealed in the 2012 International Narcotics Control Strategy
Report (INCSR) which was released by the State Department in Washington
on Wednesday.
“Information acquired by host country law enforcement suggests that drug
trafficking organizations have utilized air drops and remote airfields
to deliver large cocaine shipments to the Turks and Caicos Islands and
to The Bahamas from Venezuela and Colombia. Recent investigations
reveal that Bahamian drug trafficking organizations are using the Turks
and Caicos Islands as a transshipment point,” the document stated.
According to the INCSR report, cocaine continues to transit The Bahamas
via go-fast boats, small commercial freighters, containers, and small
aircraft. Small sport fishing vessels and pleasure crafts move cocaine
from The Bahamas to Florida by blending in with legitimate traffic that
transit these areas. Larger ?go-fast and sport fishing vessels transport
marijuana from Jamaica through The Bahamas and into Florida in the same
manner as cocaine. Traffickers also skirt along the loosely monitored
Cuban coast line, looking for opportune moments to break for Florida
through Bahamian waters.
During 2011, The Bahamas and U.S. law enforcement assets worked
together on over 35 successful interdictions. U.S. antidrug-related
agencies estimate that there are 12 to 15 significant drug trafficking
organizations operating in The Bahamas.
It was noted that Haitian and Haitian-Bahamian drug trafficking
organizations continue to play a major role in the movement of cocaine
from Hispaniola through The Bahamas. Investigations of these
organizations are hindered by an enduring lack of Creole speakers within
the Drug Enforcement Unit.
Meantime, the report added that the US Coast Guard (USCG) is moving
forward with its plans to rebuild the OPBAT hangar on the island of
Great Inagua. This two-year construction project will allow USCG to base
helicopters flying in support of OPBAT on Great Inagua. Since Hurricane
Ike destroyed the original Great Inagua hangar in 2008, USCG
helicopters temporarily operate out of the Turks and Caicos Islands as
part of its participation in OPBAT.
The report revealed that although maritime means remain a significant
method of drug transit through The Bahamas, the majority of cocaine
seized in recent years has been concealed in containerized cargo
transiting the Freeport Container Port on the island of Grand Bahamas.
DEA believes that Colombian traffickers are utilizing containerized
cargo as a means to thwart the efforts of law enforcement officials in
The Bahamas. Approximately three metric tons of cocaine have been seized
at the Freeport Container Port since 2007. Nevertheless, the amounts
seized from containers have diminished in recent years, including 2011.
“Contraband is smuggled through a variety of vessels, employing myriad
strategies. Larger vessels are known to offload drugs on to small
vessels before checking in with Bahamian Customs, and many vessels do
not register at all when entering Bahamian waters. The DEU, in
conjunction with the DEA, continued a program in Great Inagua to enforce
Government of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas requirements that vessels
entering Bahamian territorial waters report to Bahamian Customs,” the
report stated.
“The Bahamas archipelago, covering an area about the size of California,
is home to several transit points for South American cocaine and
marijuana and (mostly) Jamaican marijuana bound for the United States.
Cocaine and marijuana are transshipped through The Bahamas‘ many islands
and cays. Drug Trafficking Organizations take advantage of the vast
geography and many hidden inlets by utilizing small commercial and
private conveyances, both marine and aerial, to avoid detection.”
SOURCE
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