By Claude Mills, Staff ReporterTHERE HAS been a phenomenal increase in the number of African and European nationals arrested under the Dangerous Drugs Act by local law enforcement officials.
The increase is almost 300 per cent, with a total of 73 foreign nationals being arrested from a number of African, Caribbean and European countries in 2003.
"There is a definite trend in narco-trafficking where the numbers have gone up astronomically by almost 300 per cent in a one-year period with the dealers opting to use other nationalities other than those from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom as drug couriers," Superintendent Gladstone Wright of the Narcotics Division, said.
SWING IN THE ACTIVITIES
"Whereas in 2002, we arrested 25 persons of other nationalities ... in 2003 we arrested 73, which represents a clear swing in the activities of narco-traffickers who believe that the local detectives may bypass these other nationalities because they are not American or British nationals," Superintendent Wright explained.
There was also a 400 per cent increase in the number of Canadian nationals arrested under the Dangerous Drugs Act in 2003, with a total of 38 arrests compared to only nine in 2002.
The increase in arrests from these countries triggered a marked decrease in the number of nationals arrested from the traditional cocaine-consuming countries such as the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (U.S.), and a decline in the number of arrests from the main cocaine-producing country, Colombia.
In 2002, 164 British nationals were arrested when compared to 131 in 2003, a decrease of 25 per cent. In 2002, 77 American nationals were arrested, but that number declined to 58 last year. There was also a significant decline in the number of Colombian nationals arrested with the figure plummeting from 16 in 2002 to a low of three in 2003.
"We believe it is a combination of excellent detective work at the airports, and the use of the emit and ion scan machines. However, we have to remain vigilante because it is a dynamic field where the traffickers will switch to other avenues such as luggage, so we have to remain flexible at all costs," Superintendent Wright said.
Of the 27 foreign nationals in the Tower Street facility, 22 are on cocaine-related charges, four on gang-related charges, and one on a manslaughter charge. At Fort Augusta, there are 59 foreign nationals, 46 of whom are on cocaine-related charges.
"One hundred per cent of all the offences for which foreign nationals are convicted are drug-related," said Major Richard Reece, Commissioner of Corrections.
REMAINED STEADY
According to Mark Waller, the British Embassy's press and political affairs officer, "The figure has remained steady at around about 120 British inmates at any one time." He noted that figures for April-December 2003 show that 124 British nationals were arrested in Jamaica for drug offences, "however, there is a quick turnaround, with those being released being replaced with new inmates," Waller explained.
He said: "There has been a reduction in the number of both British and Jamaican nationals being apprehended at UK ports for drugs offences. This is attributable to better interdiction efforts by the Jamaican law enforcement agencies at Jamaican ports and the close co-operation that
exists between the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) and their UK counterparts."
