Kingston: Jamaican authorities on Tuesday, July 26 warned that all available resources would be used to destroy the escalating “guns-for-drugs” trade between Jamaica and Haiti.
Head of Operation Kingfish, Assistant Commissioner of Police Glenmore Hinds, made the remarks following the arrest of three men and the seizure of 100 kg of compressed marijuana that was destined to Haiti last Friday.
The three men were arrested after members of Operation Kingfish intercepted a boat in the community of Annotto Bay in the northeastern parish of St Mary.
“We estimate that the majority of our pistols have come through that avenue to the extent to which we detect that there is an increase in the number of firearms on our streets,” Hinds said.
“It’s a very serious problem and we are coming to grips with it, we also have a deliberate strategy to seize go-fast boats,” he added.
Hinds said the success of the local effort would require significant assistance from regional and international security counterparts.
“Our intelligence indicates that some of the shipments taken out before they left Jamaica were destined to Haiti to be exchanged for firearms, so we have been working on this by preventing shipments from going out”.
“Regionally we have been having discussions on how we can tackle the state with the help of international states” the senior police officer said.
Operation Kingfish was established in October last year to fight drug trafficking and criminal gangs in the country.