Tyrone Reid, Sunday Gleaner Reporter

Walker

The Jamaica Customs Department is hitting criminals where it hurts real badly - their pockets.

Intensified efforts by the department's contraband enforcement team (CET) during the 2008/2009 fiscal year have resulted in approximately US$2 million of hard cash being deposited into the government's coffers under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA).

Enacted in 2007, the Proceeds of Crime Act gives legislative power to the State to seize property and proceeds obtained through drug trafficking and money laundering.

Earlier this year, a noted criminology scholar - Professor Anthony Harriott - said that local law enforcers would only be able to put a stake through the heart of organised crime by relieving kingpins of their assets.

Danville Walker, commissioner of customs, told The Sunday Gleaner that drug lords must know that Jamaica is not an open market for them. "Jamaica is not and will not be an easy mark," Walker warned. He added: "If the drug lords see us as an easy place to move money through, that would not be good."

Omar Guyah, director of enforcement at the Jamaica Customs Department, said while the CET's accomplishments were noteworthy, much more could be accomplished. "The dent is more significant than before. (But) I cannot say it is a large one because we can do much more,"

The major cash haul, which is in the region of $170 million, was revealed in a CET performance review.

cash seized

Harriott

However, the government's account could be credited with another $131 million under the POCA, as the CET has seized cash and other redeemable instruments in currencies such as the euro, pound sterling, Canadian and US dollars. The matters are still pending in the courts.

Guyah pointed out that the tidy sum forfeited to the State includes "notes, postal orders, cheques, including travellers cheques, bank drafts and they are all redeemable."

But most of it was hard cash. "The majority of what was forfeited was cash; about 60 per cent of it," he said.

Guyah pointed out that one forfeiture during the period accounted for approximately US$586,000. The passengers were coming in from Baltimore.

"Customs continues to play a significant role in the prosecution and enforcement of the POCA. There were 257 new cases for the period with 196 of them being finalised and money in excess of US$1,890,000 being forfeited to the Crown," read a section of the performance review.

The review also noted that 28 cases entered the courts under the POCA with a 90-per-cent success rate "resulting in US$387,650 being forfeited to the Crown."

Additionally, a total of $287 million was imposed as breach penalties during the period, with the lion's share of the penalties being enforced during the last quarter - January to March 2009.

Of the 68 breaches levied under the Customs, Dangerous Drugs, Intellectual Property and Proceeds of Crime acts, 37 have been finalised.

Guyah explained that, while cases under the POCA must go through the courts, breaches under the Customs Act have no such requirement. "Customs laws allow the commissioner of customs to levy penalties in accordance to breaches of the act and may collect any fine without attending court," he said.

The director of enforcement explained that cash and other redeemable instruments were seized from packages sent by courier services and in connection with the notoriously popular lottery scam.

"We get a lot from the post as well," Omar Guyah, director of enforcement at the Jamaica Customs Department said.

tyrone.reid@gleanerjm.com

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There were major increases in amount of contraband detected by the Customs Department during the 2008/2009 financial year compared to the previous fiscal term. Cocaine seizures increased by almost 100 per cent. The street value of the drugs confiscated was in excess of $375 million.

Meanwhile, the CET more than tripled its marijuana seizures from 68 in 2007/2008 fiscal year to 225 in the 2008/2009 period. The street value of the latter haul was approximately $246.5 million.