While no official count could be confirmed up to press time, authorities said Sunday close to 200 illegal immigrants, suspected to be from Haiti, were apprehended and taken into custody after 4am Sunday.
The immigrants allegedly arrived on a boat that landed along the eastern foreshore of New Providence, just past the lighthouse on the Eastern Road.
The discovery of a boat motor a short distance away from the ship appeared to have supported speculation by area residents, and law enforcement officials on the scene, that at least one other boat was involved in the affair, likely a small skiff.
When the Journal arrived on the scene, an unmarked police bus was traveling east along the Eastern Road filled with what appeared to be migrants from the boat.
Officials on the scene told the Journal that the boat was capable of transporting as many as 300 or more people, but again were unable to confirm the number of persons in custody or suspected to have been aboard.
Area residents who spoke with the Journal claimed the boat was involved in a fairly sophisticated smuggling operation run by some residents of the area.
Police on the scene investigating the arrival dismissed the reports that the vessel had been “hiding behind Athol Island” for some days.
“Thatﾒs impossible,” a Defence Force officer said, pointing out that law enforcement officials constantly check the island for just such occurrences.
Later in the afternoon, Rudy Ferguson, a senior immigration officer, said the eastern foreshore is a known drop off point for illegal immigrants.
He was with a party of approximately 20 Defence Force and Immigration officers whom he said were members of one of a number of search parties “mopping up” the area.
Mr. Ferguson said they planned to search throughout the day and throughout what he called the heightened season for illegal immigrants.
By: Quincy Parker, The Bahama Journal
