Official hand-over of Operation Bahamas Turks and Caicos (OPBAT) from the U.S. Army to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
On Monday, October 1, the Embassy acknowledged the transfer of responsibility of the Operation Bahamas Turks and Caicos (OPBAT) base in Georgetown from the U.S. Army to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in a ceremony at the Security & Intelligence Branch of the Royal Bahamas Police Force in New Providence.
Among those in attendance were the U.S. Chargé d’Affaires a.i., Dr. D. Brent Hardt; Bahamian Minister of National Security, the Honorable Tommy Turnquest; Turks and Caicos Minister of Home Affairs and National Safety, the Honorable Galmo Williams; Mr. Edward Frothingham, U.S. Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Counternarcotics; Royal Bahamas Police Force Commissioner, Paul Farquharson; Commodore Clifford Scavella, Royal Bahamas Defense Force, and Mr. William Brown, Special Agent-in-Charge, DEA Aviation Wing.
Dr. Hardt lauded the success of OPBAT over the past two decades and pointed out that the army units, in partnership with the U.S. Coast Guard and DEA, played an indispensable role in stemming the flow of cocaine and marijuana originating in South American source countries, transiting through The Bahamas and destined for the United States.
Since 1986 the partnership between the United States Army and OPBAT has resulted in a total of 93,808 kilograms of cocaine and 1,430,900 pounds of marijuana seized, with a street value of over 3 billion dollars. Dr. Hardt thanked the Army on behalf of the Embassy and wished the U.S. Coast Guard and the DEA continued success in OPBAT’s anti-narcotics mission.
To conclude the ceremony, the three U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopters officially departed The Bahamas, ending twenty one years of service in the fight against drug trafficking by the U.S. Army in OPBAT. The DEA’s newly arrived Bell 412 helicopters, then conducted the first official patrol over New Providence with U.S. and Bahamian government officials on board.
