WHILE THE British High Commission here is denying any knowledge of the British Government contemplating introducing visa requirements for the entry of Jamaicans, our own Minister of National Security has returned from the UK declaring a clear and present danger of visa introduction.
Deputy High Commissioner Phil Sinkison drew fire a couple of months ago when he said that perhaps one in 10 passengers on flights from Jamaica to Britain could be smuggling cocaine. Terry Burns, Customs and Excise Director of Law Enforcement for the UK, told the BBC that he believed that as many as 30 passengers on each flight from Jamaica to Britain may be a drug smuggler. This estimate pretty much comes back to Sinkison's one in 10.
Dr. Phillips, speaking in London, said he thought Burns' figures were too high. This is a quibble over numbers in which the British authorities are likely to have far better data. The fact of the matter is that Jamaica has become a significant exporter of drugs and of gang violence into Britain. The British Government has already moved to set up a special police unit for black-on-black violence in which Jamaican drug gangs figure very prominently.
The offence to our pride to be singled out for visa requirements may lead us to forget that no-visa entry is a courtesy that any foreign government may choose to extend to our nationals or withdraw as circumstances warrant. Customs officials estimate that 10 to 15 per cent of cocaine on British streets is smuggled from Jamaica. Some 400 women and 700 men, constituting the largest foreign group, are now in British prisons. Some 440 British-bound drug mules were arrested at our two international airports in the first eight months of 2001, while 266 were arrested on the British side. Burns argues that introducing visas for visitors from Jamaica would offer a "significant short-term impact" in the fight against drug trafficking. Despite the professed ignorance of the British High Commission here, we would be naive to believe that such a strategy is not being actively considered.
The fawning diplomacy of the Jamaican Government can only take us so far in avoiding this major inconvenience descending upon legitimate travellers. The focus must be on defeating the drug lords, as the Customs Law Enforcement director has so clearly pointed out. For this, Dr. Phillips has been assured the co-operation of the British Government.
