BAHAMAS – On Friday, June 8, representatives of the Government of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, the Government of the Turks and Caicos Islands and the Government of the United States of America held their semi-annual meeting of the Narcotics Joint Task Force at the Foreign Ministry.
The meeting was co-chaired by the Permanent Secretary for National Security, Mark Wilson, who led the Bahamian delegation, and Chargé d’Affaires, Dr. Brent Hardt who headed the United States delegation.
The Joint Task Force, which has been meeting regularly since 1987, provides a forum for senior United States, Bahamian, and Turks and Caicos officials to review ongoing counter-drug operations, assess progress toward common goals, plan future joint counter-narcotics efforts, and examine ways to collaborate more effectively to strengthen the already close partnership that exists between the United States, the Turks and Caicos and The Bahamas through OPBAT.
In his opening remarks, Dr. Hardt thanked Mr. Wilson as he approaches retirement for his outstanding support and collaboration over many years to OPBAT and our broader law enforcement and security cooperation. He also welcomed newly named Permanent Secretaries for National Security and Foreign Affairs, A. Missouri Sherman-Peter and Sheila Carey.
Dr. Hardt indicated that the most recent intelligence estimates show an increasing flow of cocaine into Hispaniola and experts believe that this could lead to more drug trafficking through The Bahamas. He commented on the recent spike in illegal migration from Haiti and mentioned the need to better integrate the efforts of all law enforcement agencies to combat migrant and drug trafficking.
In his opening remarks Mr. Wilson thanked both the U.S. side led by Dr. Brent Hardt and the Bahamian law-enforcement officers who have together over the years made tremendous contribution to the increasing levels of excellence in the interdiction of the supply of illegal drugs in and through The Bahamas and to the efforts to resolve the issues of the abuse of drugs, particularly in our young people.
He noted that this was his last meeting before going into retirement and that he was happy to be turning over the administration of the Ministry of National Security to Mrs. A. Missouri Sherman-Peters, a seasoned public servant who coincidentally had considerable experience and knowledge of drug matters. He indicated also that this meeting was coming at a time of tremendous optimism, prompted mainly by the very positive developments in the budgets of the Royal Bahamas Police Force, the Royal Bahamas Defence Force and the Immigration Department.
He also indicated his tremendous pleasure at being able to refer to the continuing excellent relations and cooperation between the Government of The Bahamas and the United States in the fight against illegal drug trafficking.
During the meeting, all sides engaged in a constructive and detailed discussion of their joint counter-narcotics and migrant interdiction efforts over the past year and exchanged ideas about additional steps that could be taken to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their bilateral efforts.
In particular, the parties discussed ways to counter the increased flow of illegal narcotics coming through The Bahamas and Turks and Caicos from Hispaniola. According to OPBAT statistics for the current year, authorities have so far seized 427,481 pounds of marijuana including 193,000 plants, 189.5 kilos of cocaine, and arrested 32 alleged drug traffickers.
U.S. and Bahamian authorities have interdicted 2,742 illegal migrants. “This success highlights OPBAT’s continued importance to the United States, the Turks and Caicos Islands and The Bahamas,” the Chargé observed, adding: “We deeply appreciate the outstanding partnership we enjoy with the RBDF, RBPF, Immigration, the Customs Department and law enforcement agencies in the Turks and Caicos in addressing our common law enforcement challenges.
The Parties agreed that next Joint Task Force meeting would take place in December.
