Glenroy Sinclair, Assignment Coordinator

Several business interests who are believed to be responsible for the financing of the massive guns-for-drugs smuggling ring between Caribbean neighbours Jamaica and Haiti are being targeted by Operation Kingfish.

On Thursday night four powerful handguns, which the police suspect had just arrived from Haiti, were seized in the Hampton Court area of St. Thomas, and 11 persons, including three Haitians and a Honduran, detained.

"Our intelligence has suggested that persons operating legitimate businesses are now employing people as fishermen to transport the drug to Haiti and trade it in for the guns," Assistant Commissioner of Police Glenmore Hinds, head of Operation Kingfish, told The Gleaner yesterday.

According to ACP Hinds, powerful handguns and sub-machine weapons are being traded between Jamaica and Haiti. High-powered rifles are sourced out of Nicaragua.

"Persons involved in this illicit trade can make at least a 300 per cent profit," said Mr. Hinds.

Some of those picked up during Thursday night's operation are believed to be major players in the illicit trade.

Under surveillance

"They have been under surveillance for some time," said ACP Hinds, who believes this is a major breakthrough for his team.

Allegations are that a St. Elizabeth woman, who is among the detainees, accompanied her Honduran husband on the trip to Haiti. On their return, they took three Haitians with them. They were rounded up with the assistance of a Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) helicopter and airlifted from St. Thomas to Kingston, along with the illegal guns.

Police Commissioner Lucius Thomas on Wednesday promised to clamp down on what he said was the guns-for-drugs trade between Jamaica, Haiti and "certain countries in Central America."

"The police high command is of the view that any reversal of this situation is contingent on increased coastal assets and sustained inshore and offshore patrols ...," Thomas said. He was speaking during a press conference to announce the police's crime initiatives for 2007.

Inspector Steve Brown, spokesman for Operation Kingfish, told The Gleaner that during another search of the coastal area yesterday, three fishing vessels were found, but up to late evening they were unable to confirm whether any of the boats was the one that made the trip to Haiti.

While this was happening, narcotics detectives were busy rounding up a group of Guyanese nationals who were preparing to ship a quantity of compressed ganja. Charged with dealing in, taking steps to export and possession of ganja are Christopher Craig, Deon Noble and Marlon Lee. They were caught at a house in Duhaney Park, St. Andrew.

Two Jamaicans, Courtney Walker and Tenneisha Bailey, who were held with foreigners, have also been charged. The police said the ganja was being prepared to be sent through the postal system, while a vast amount of ganja pellets were ingested.