Daraine Luton, Sunday Gleaner Reporter

DEPRIVED OF millions of dollars because of the aggressive crackdown on activities by local law enforcement agencies, drug traffickers have resorted to threatening the lives of members of the marine police and the security of vessels being used to cripple drug trafficking, police say.

Superintendent Marlon Dietrich, commanding officer of the marine division, told The Sunday Gleaner yesterday that while threats against the police are nothing new, they have become even more pronounced since the police began concentrating a significant portion of its efforts in the Kingston Harbour.

"We have been receiving death threats, serious death threats. We have intelligence ... that they even plan to destroy the vessels if we don't pay close attention to them," he reported.

"Yesterday (Friday) evening, I was reading something coming out of the national intelligence bureau regarding the threat on our personnel and also the government properties that we are in charge of, to be specific, the boats ... We have had to put new measures in place to effectively guarantee the safety of personnel and equipment."

Ganja seizure

On Friday, the marine police seized a huge quantity of marijuana at Port Bustamante.

The 'weed' which was compressed, was found in two canisters and were affixed to commercial vessels. A day earlier, the police found a floating canister packed with ganja floating in Jamaican waters.

Supt. Dietrich estimates that more than $100 million worth of ganja has been seized since the start of the year when the police, with the aid of new vessels, began intensifying their vigilance in this part of Jamaica's territorial waters.

"As a policeman, if someone is going to threaten you and you allow that to hamper you in the process of executing law and order, might as well you pack up and go home," Supt. Dietrich said vehemently.

The United States' State Department in its latest International Narcotics Control Strategy report, released Thursday, said Jamaica is a major transit point for cocaine en route to the United States and is also a key source of marijuana and marijuana derivative products for the Americas.