By Noel Thompson,
Freelance Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
SMUGGLERS ARE devising and using new methods to traffic drugs through the island's airports, including stashing drugs (mainly cocaine) in suitcase handles, trousers' seams and waistbands as well as the insoles of shoes, according to local narcotics police.
They have also tried to ship cocaine shaped as soap bars with a label 'Dettol' inscribed on either side. Police say they were able to detect the fake soap bars three weeks ago because it had a creamish colour, while the original soap has a yellowish colour.
On September 18, a British national, Dian Duckworth, 37, was held at the Sangster International Airport after her luggage was checked and found to contain 12 bars of cocaine wrapped in plastic and then placed in packages with price tags.
For the month of July, 22 people were arrested at the Sangster International Airport for drug trafficking. These included one Jamaican, one Japanese, one Canadian, seven Americans and 10 British nationals.
Police at Sangster's have confirmed that more arrests are being made on Sundays than any other weekday.
Statistics from across the island show that between January and August this year, a total of 5,663 persons were arrested for ganja, while 473 were held for cocaine and two females arrested for cocaine. These included 99 foreign males and 131 foreign women.
In 1999 the police seized 22,739.52 kilograms of ganja; 2,455.34 kilograms of cocaine; over 368-hash oil and 123.198 kilograms of hashish. For the previous year, ganja seizure stood at 22,872.2 kilograms; cocaine 1,542.74, crack cocaine 2,731; hash oil -- 144.01 while hashish accounted for 41.303 kilograms. The figures for this year were not readily available.
Meanwhile, there has been an estimated five to ten per cent increase in the seizure of drugs in Western Jamaica compared to the same period last year. However, seizures and arrests dominated the air and seaports, as these continue to be the main targeted areas by traffickers in the western region.
