Daraine Luton, Staff Reporter

THE ESTABLISHMENT of Jamaican neighbourhoods in southern Haiti, as well as reciprocal Haitian communities in several sections of Jamaica, is fostering the guns-for-drugs trade, Prime Minister Bruce Golding said in Parliament Tuesday.

"It is a major threat to the security of the country," Golding said.

The prime minister, who was speaking on issues of national security, told Parliament that security personnel had reported that Jamaican communities had been identified in southern Haiti.

"There are links between those communities and various communities back in Jamaica," Golding said. "Ganja goes up and guns come down."

Increasing presence

Haiti has been blamed for many of the illegal guns that have found their way into the streets of Jamaica. The prime minister said Tuesday there was also an increasing presence of Haitians in Jamaica who come through the normal channels.

"Some of us are seeing the establishment of Haitian communities in our constituencies and they are becoming entrenched because they are having families here," Golding said.

The security forces have recovered 281 illegal firearms this year, but police say the vast majority of guns remain in the hands of criminals.

Corruption

Golding also laid the blame for gun-smuggling at the feet of watchdogs at the nation's ports. The prime minister said in one instance, intelligence pointed to a container being taken off the wharf at 11 p.m. and returning at 5:00 p.m. the next day.

"There is looseness, there is a laxity, there is a slackness, there is a level of corruption that is there that is not ordinary," the prime minister said.

"It is facilitating the inflow of guns into the island ... . Much of what is happening is being done with complicity involving a variety of persons," Golding said.

daraine.luton@gleanerjm.com