Klao Bell, Staff Reporter
SOME OF the 70-100 tonnes of cocaine transshipped annually through Jamaica reach local addicts through a network of outlets in Kingston and Montego Bay, a Sunday Gleaner investigation revealed last week.
Some are well-known to the police and in fact operate close to police stations, but the police seem to have resigned themselves to co-existing with these drug centres. They say they are frustrated because the people are back to their activities in no time, after their raids and arrests.
Superintendent George Quallo of the Central Police Station escorted this reporter to the crack base on 81 East Street in a bid to explain the difficulty of ridding the city of the cocaine retail centres.
We saw a female form emerging from a dusty track, arms flailing, neatly placing one foot before the other as if toeing a line.
She was coming from the premises at 81 East Street in Kingston, which the police have identified as a base for the sale and use of crack cocaine. The base is one of several in Central Kingston, including one located at Maiden Lane, and there are reports of "a den" of other such bases dotting the landscape of Kingston and St. Andrew.
The age of the woman seen coming from the premises was difficult to determine. She was grotesquely disfigured by burns on her face, neck and arms. She was wearing short shorts, a midriff blouse and a multi-coloured wig. When Supt. Quallo asked her where she was coming from she said, "mi did a dance".
Supt. Quallo said the police are frustrated and insists that until more help is available for persons who make crack bases viable, their job will continue to be a perpetual cycle of raiding, arresting, releasing and raiding again.
"We raid the place, make arrests, take them to court, they plead guilty, pay a fine and are back on the street. Because they are small users the fines are minimal, so it doesn't deter them," he said.
According to a Clerk of Court at the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court, the maximum fine for possession of cocaine is $500,000 and five years in prison. But, depending on the quantity and the repetition of the offence, persons can be fined as little as $500.
Duhaney Park in St. Andrew is described in some quarters as a den of crack bases. A cocaine addict who was seeking admission to the Drug Court programme last year, told The Sunday Gleaner that there are three crack bases in the vicinity of the Duhaney Park Police station.
The police are often criticised for allowing crack bases to thrive, virtually in their backyards.
"You have some corner, some all next door to police stations, where men sell drugs daily," said Donavan Smith, a reform cocaine addict from Montego Bay, who kicked the habit just over four years ago.
But, the police say, the law constrains them from simply razing these dens and arresting the occupants.
"We can't just go to a place that people say is a crack house and just sweep everybody up. That would be inhumane, everybody is innocent until proven guilty. If you don't catch the person with the substance you can't arrest him," said Inspector Claudette Wellington of the Duhaney Park Police Station.
Police raids, she said, are often futile. She explained: "Usually, only small quantities, which are easy to hide are kept on the site, and though we go with narcotics agents and sniffer dogs we often find nothing. They know when we are coming and have their way of hiding the drugs...how do they know? They look out for you the same way you are looking out for them. They have people on the watch all the time," Inspector Wellington said.
Because police know of some crack bases, they are sometimes accused of benefiting from the illegal operations.
"Police do know where the bases are, if they go into the bases they can get rid of the problem. To be frank I have seen policemen taking money. Policemen are involved in selling crack, I have seen it," said a middle-aged cocaine addict who was being detained at the Duhaney Park Police Station last week, on suspicion of robbery.
But, Inspector Wellington retorted, "people say that the police are in on it but I don't think the coke bases are so fortified to buy out somebody."
Though interested in shutting down crack bases, the police say they also want to find the source of the illegal substance, but addicts are very protective of their suppliers.
The detainee at the police station refused to even describe some of the locations where crack is bought and sold. The only thing he was willing to say was that, "some of the best cocaine is available right here in Duhaney Park and in Pembroke Hall."
Minister of National Security Dr. Peter Phillips, in outlining the Government's strategies to put a lid on crime in Jamaica recently, gave an estimate that some 70 to 100 tonnes of cocaine pass through the island each year. This he said, made Jamaica one of the largest drug transshipment points in the region.
To attack the illegal drug trade which he identified as the root cause of much of the crime, the Money Laundering Act will be amended to broaden the mandatory requirement for reporting suspicious money transactions.
