By Lloyd Williams,
Senior Associate Editor
JAMAICA NEEDS go-fast boats similar to those used by Colombian cocaine smugglers, if law enforcement agencies are to curb drug trafficking between South America and Jamaica.
A drug intelligence expert, who did not want to be named, expressed this view last week in praising the "excellent work done by the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), in particular", the US Coast Guard and the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF). The combined effort of the three agencies led to last Tuesday night's seizure of 740 kg (1,628 lb.) of cocaine in a go-fast boat in Alligator Pond, Manchester, near the St. Elizabeth border.
The cocaine was seized from a 35-foot Colombian-made go-fast boat (so-called because it is sleek, powerful, very fast and low in the water) which was spotted Tuesday off the Manchester/St. Elizabeth coast.
Most of the Colombian boats smuggling cocaine to Jamaica usually pick up their cargo off Baranquilla, Santa Marta or San Andres then head for Jamaican south coast ports such as Alligator Pond, Black River and Rocky Point. However, some smugglers prefer north coast bays like Manchioneal, St. Margaret's Bay and similar coves in Portland.
In last Tuesday's operation the American Coast Guard requested permission of the Jamaican authorities to track the boat in Jamaican waters. With permission granted, the Americans and the Jamaican law enforcement agencies co-operated smoothly thereafter.
From what could be pieced together, the US Coast Guard cottoned onto the go-fast boat shortly after it left Colombia, tracked it for a while, then as it were, handed it over to the Jamaica Defence Force which tracked it from the Pedro Banks North into a beach some distance from the town of Alligator Pond.
With the JDF breathing down their necks, the smugglers were forced to abandon the boat and its cargo of cocaine. They made off hurriedly, unable to land and rendezvous with their partners, as arranged, who would have taken the cargo and store it in a stash house until it was time to move it out -- to various parts of the island, to the US or Europe, most likely through the Bahamas.
Up to yesterday afternoon police were still searching for the smugglers.
If the JDF had go-fast boats similar to those of the Colombians, the smugglers would have been cut off even before they reached the beach and both the crew and the cargo would have been captured, said the drug intelligence expert.
"Without go-fast boats", he said, "the Jamaican authorities are working at a definite disadvantage in trying to get the better of the Colombian smugglers".
He said that with security forces' limited personnel, the operation taking place at night, and the boat crew having the option to land anywhere along a coastline several miles long to which there was restricted access by road, he considered the seizure of the cocaine a success, even though the crew escaped. If the JDF Coast Guard/Narcotics Police had go-fast boats too, he said, then the crew also would most likely have been nabbed.
Last Thursday, the American Embassy in Kingston also hailed the joint anti-narcotics operation. Richard H. Smyth, the embassy's Minister-Counsellor and Deputy Chief-of-Mission, praised the Jamaican security forces for what he said was their outstanding initiative during the operation.
The embassy described the operation as "a striking illustration of the effectiveness of the U.S.-Jamaican Maritime ('Shiprider') Agreement.
"This is another example of the close co-operation that exists between our countries in our combined efforts to fight the scourge of drug trafficking," Mr. Smyth said in a statement.
Under the Shiprider Agree-ment signed between the Jamaican and US governments in 1997, American Coast Guard vessels and aircraft with Jamaican security officer aboard, or with the permission of the Jamaican authorities, are allowed to enter Jamaica's territorial waters or airspace in hot pursuit of vessels or aircraft suspected to be trafficking in illegal drugs or arms.
"Thanks to these efforts, less cocaine is finding its way into the hands of Jamaican and US citizens, and their children," said Mr. Smyth.
