CUSTOMS OFFICIALS in the United Kingdom are reporting a significant reduction in the number of cocaine-swallowers from Jamaica, since the introduction of Operation Airbridge.
U.K. Customs officials said yesterday that the number of "drug swallowers from the island was reduced by more than 90 per cent in the past two years."
Operation Airbridge was launched on June 1, 2002 by police and customs officials in both countries following concerns by the British Government over the growing number of Jamaican travellers swallowing drugs to smuggle into the U.K. Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Carl Williams, who heads the Narcotics Division, yesterday described Operation Airbridge as "the most successful law enforcement partnership between the U.K. and Jamaica in terms of the results that have been shown".
He said that the success was testimony to the hard work by the team from the Narcotics Division, that has been a part of the operation over the last two years. "They have worked hard and continue to work hard to clean up the remnants of those who continue or (those) in the practice of swallowing cocaine to take overseas," the narcotics chief told The Gleaner.
Prior to the launch of Operation Airbridge, the number of cocaine swallowers detected in Britain had risen to 730, according to British Customs officials.
This number fell to 185 in the operation's first 12 months up to June 2003, and in the last year up to June 2004, the number was further reduced to 41 a reduction of more than 90 per cent since the operation began.
According to the U.K. authorities, in the year to June 2003, the number of cocaine smugglers detected in Jamaica prior to boarding flights to the U.K. increased significantly, from 82 to 216. Due to the operation's deterrents, the number of smugglers intercepted at Jamaican airports since January fell to 64.
Dr. Peter Phillips, Minister of National Security, in his 2004/2005 budget presentation in the House of Representatives, said the partnership with the U.K., the United States, Canada and Colombia, and the installation of two Ionscan machines at the Norman Manley International airport, had resulted in a shift in the courier drug trade to other countries in the region.
"Airbridge has disrupted what was once a key distribution route for drug smugglers, reducing the amount of cocaine reaching our streets," said U.K. Customs Minister John Healey.
"This is a ground-breaking project that has shown what can really be achieved in tackling Class A drug smuggling through international co-operation."
COMMITTED
He said the U.K. Government was committed to working with other Caribbean countries "to take on the gangsters who run this evil trade".
Jamaican High Commissioner to the U.K., Maxine Roberts, said the continued success of Operation Airbridge "demonstrates the fact that victories in the fight against the international scourge of drug trafficking are possible."
Peter Mathers, the British High Commissioner to Jamaica, acknowledged the success of the partnership. He said, "The operation is part of our continuing close collaborative efforts with the Jamaican authorities to prevent the trans-shipment of illegal drugs through Jamaica."
