Hinds
THE JAMAICA/HAITI connection is again figuring prominently in police reports concerning the smuggling of illegal firearms into the country.
Assistant Commissioner of Police, Glenmore Hinds, Head of the Counter Narcotics and Serious Crimes task force, dubbed 'Operation Kingfish', has identified this link as one of the main targets of his team.
The task force, in a raid carried out in Westmoreland late last week, destroyed two ganja fields which, according to ACP Hinds, would have been used to supply the drug to Haitian connections in exchange for guns.
SMALL ARMS
The flow of small arms from Haiti to Jamaica, he told The Sunday Gleaner, had become a worrying phenomenon for Jamaican law enforcement officials, who are now focusing on the coastline and various fishing villages in a bid to address the problem.
"To the extent that Haiti has had its social difficulties and upheavals, and with Jamaica being situated so close to that country and that our fishermen fish close to Haitian waters, we have to pay close attention to the issue," ACP Hinds affirmed. "We have stories which indicate that some of our fishermen are now fishing drugs, bartering drugs for guns and our intelligence is suggesting that a disproportionate amount of the guns now entering the island are coming through that source."
To counter the flow, he said that a "comprehensive strategy" was being developed to complement the measures already being employed.
Less than a month into his assignment as head of the task force, ACP Hinds is claiming progress towards another of his main objectives to dismantle roughly a dozen highly organised gangs operating in the Corporate Area and in some other communities.
Operation Kingfish the brand name for the Counter Narcotics and Major Crimes Taskforce was announced by National Security Minister Dr. Peter Phillips to smash organised criminal networks throughout the island, focusing, among other things, on the so-called community dons.
"We intend to unmask the underworld leaders to the community for what they really are, and it is by having these persons exposed to the public that we hope to bring home to them the fact that what they have been supporting is not in their best interest; that they have actually been supporting their own enslavement," he said.
Mindful of the vacuum that will be created in such communities when their so-called leaders are removed, Mr. Hinds said other agencies were developing community empowerment programmes to fill the void, with international assistance.
Set up to be a largely intelligence-driven organisation, ACP Hinds is promising that when the task force presents evidence against any gang member in court "we will not have any difficulty with this evidence standing up."
RELIABLE INVESTIGATORS
The task force, he said, had a team of reliable investigators who will develop the evidence to an acceptable standard. These investigators, he explained, were working in partnership with overseas experts who were providing mentorship and sharing their investigative skills with them.
While being wary of offering specific deadlines, ACP Hinds told The Sunday Gleaner that his team was making good progress in some investigations and hoped to deliver results "in very good time."
Operation Kingfish uses, as one of its main tools, a dedicated telephone line (8-1-1) to which members of the public can call and report criminal activities.
Already the task force has received over 400 calls, 24 of which required immediate police action. Another 32 required further work, which the authorities hope will lead to action being taken against perpetrators of crime, while 30-odd have been referred to local police for action.
- E.M
