Daraine Luton, Staff Reporter

WITH 130 days to go before the opening ceremony of the Interna-tional Cricket Council (ICC) Cricket World Cup in the region, Jamaica is moving to ensure its borders are not penetrated by undesirables, while at the same time allowing visitors hassle-free travel.

Dr. Donald Rhodd, State Minister in the Ministry of National Security, said on Monday that Cabinet is now in discussion about putting into effect the Advance Passenger Implementation (API) system and new visa requirements ahead of the impending World Cup.

Dr. Rhodd was speaking at the opening ceremony for a joint Immigration Services/Jamaica Customs border protection workshop at the Immigration Department in downtown Kingston. He said that, with an API system, passenger information is provided to carriers beforehand and a determination can be made as to whether to admit a visitor.

Investment

"It is intended that a person identified as a security risk will be denied entry," Dr. Rhodd said. He told The Gleaner that the implementation of this system will not require any major capital investment as much of the technology is already in the country.

The junior security minister told his audience that a Cabinet submission has been prepared to address the need for countries to be added to the list of those which require visas to travel to Jamaica.

"While we will not be engaging in any racial profiling, careful attention will be given to countries which pose security threats based on intelligence gathered, especially as it relates to terrorism," he said. "The world post 9/11 is much more volatile. There are extremist groups seeking to attack so-called soft targets in the furtherance of their cause."

Amy Johnson-Lynch, director at the Immigration Services, admitted that her officers have a difficult task ahead of them. Aside from possible terrorist activities, the region's security officers are bracing for possible criminal activities such as drug trafficking, human trafficking and money laundering.

"As border security officers we are even more aware of the challenges we face as we move closer to Cricket World Cup," she remarked.

ICC West Indies Cricket 2007 estimates that close to 100,000 visitors will travel to the Caribbean solely for the ICC CWC 2007, which will span 47 days across nine countries. Once a visitor is processed in a host country, he will be presented with a travel visa which will allow him to move freely between countries during the tournament.