Glenroy Sinclair and Yahneake Sterling, Staff Reporters
Left: Some of the 65 men from the Dominican Republics and Honduras wait to be processed yesterday at a holding area at the Mobile Reserve in St. Andrew.
- NORMAN GRINDLEY/DEPUTY CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
IMMIGRATION AUTHORITIES and the police are probing a suspected case of human trafficking in which 65 illegal aliens were taken off three fishing vessels during an operation Wednesday night in the waters of Old Harbour Bay, St. Catherine.
"Fifty-nine of them are from Honduras and the other six from the Dominican Republic," Inspector Steve Brown, told The Gleaner yesterday.
The operation was conducted by the Marine Police, led by Superintendent Marlon Dietrich, which received assistance from the Special Anti-Crime Task Force and immigration officers.
BEING PROCESSED
Reports are that the illegal aliens were taken to the Mobile Reserve Unit at Up Park Camp, St. Andrew, where they were being processed up to yesterday afternoon. The police said the men were held without any documentation to suggest how they entered the island.
When The Gleaner visited the facility where the men were being held, their spouses and children were overcome with emotions as they stood on one side of the fence looking in at the detainees.
One of the detainees, who identified himself only as 'Hernandez', said he has been living in Jamaica since 1999, having met and married a Jamaican woman in Honduras three years earlier.
"I came to Jamaica on a plane seven years ago and I have filed for citizenship," said 'Hernandez', who further explained that his case was still being processed.
One of the spouses, who identified herself as Annette McCalla, said one of the detainees was her boyfriend who first visited the island eight years ago and has been living here for the past three years.
"I don't want them to send back my children's father to Honduras, because he is the sole provider," said Miss McCalla, sobbing between tears. "If they do, I don't know how I am going to manage."
Immigration officer, Deputy Superintendent Hyacinth Wallace, said the processing was yet to be completed. At least 37 of the detainees were sent to the Horizon Remand Centre, while the other 28 are being held at the Mobile Reserve Unit.
