Travel

St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister calls for increased security in the Caribbean

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – Chairman of the Regional Security System (RSS), St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas has described as “unfortunate” Sunday’s hijacking of a Canada-bound plane at Jamaica’s Sangster International Airport by a 20-year-old Jamaican saying a lot more needs to be done to beef up the region’s security.

Dr. Douglas said measures must be put in place to ensure that it does not happen again in any part of the Caribbean.

“I believe that once the Jamaican authorities would have gone through the post mortem of the entire episode we would have been able to identify areas which are soft in terms of airport security and we should be able to mount, not only in Jamaica, but throughout the rest of the region, measures to ensure that it does not happen again,” said Dr. Douglas in a telephone interview with the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) in Barbados.


Soldiers stand near the hijacked CanJet 737 as it sits on the tarmac at the airport in Montego Bay, Jamaica.
(Adrian Wyld / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

He noted that the hijacking took place at a time when the Canadian Prime Minister, The Right Honourable Stephen Harper was on a one-day visit to Jamaica and immediately after the Fifth Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago, where some 34 leaders from the Western Hemisphere were present.

Dr. Douglas said there is need to determine the circumstances of how the Jamaican gunman was able to reach the secured areas and on to the aircraft undetected.

“We would have to have greater security and ensure for example there is adequate surveillance that would assist us in determine what happened. I hope that the surveillance tapes are available to the authorities, by at the moment I would hope that there would be stricter measures put in place, because we do not know and until we understand the areas where the breaches took place, we would have to improve on the security checks,” said Dr. Douglas.

Related Articles

Back to top button