A half-dozen people have been arrested and approximately $310,000 worth of cocaine seized at the Lucayan Harbour over the past three and half months, in what police say has become lucrative clandestine drug smuggling activities involving peddlers in The Bahamas, the United States and Jamaica.
Between March and July, three males and three females were arrested at the islandﾴs main sea port for allegedly concealing and trying to smuggle cocaine to the United States on board the MV Discovery Sun which sails daily between Freeport and Fort Lauderdale.
The latest drug arrest occurred Sunday afternoon when authorities said a 33-year-old Hanna Hill Eight Mile Rock man and his 29-year-old wife were caught trying to smuggle $90,000 worth of cocaine in packages taped to their bodies.
“In many instances the persons who you see being arrested at the Harbour are the couriers who have contracted with somebody either in The Bahamas, the United States or Jamaica,” Chief Superintendent of Police Basil Rahming told the Bahama Journal Monday.
“And sometimes itﾴs a pretty good sum of money [they could receive] that would cause them to want to put their freedom on the line,” he added.
Mr. Rahming indicated that these kinds of drug investigations typically take a long time before they are concluded and actual seller in each case nailed down.
Back in May, a 45 year old Jamaican-American woman was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty in a Freeport court to trying to smuggle $40,000 worth of cocaine in a package molded into the shape of a womanﾴs undergarment.
During her arraignment, the woman alleged that a Bahamian male who had asked her to smuggle drugs purchased her ticket to come to The Bahamas. She also claimed that the male had other females do the same for him on a weekly basis.
Mr. Rahming pointed out that this is now the heart of the cocaine producing season in South and Central American countries, and indicated that increased smuggling activities through The Bahamas are inevitable as sellers attempt to have their illicit cargo reach the United States.
The largest single seizure at the harbour occurred last month when police said harbour police caught a Freeport woman trying to smuggle $120,000 of cocaine hidden in her underwear.
Authorities said she was caught after trying to avoid walking through the harbourﾴs X-ray screening equipment.
“Many persons have been apprehended at the harbour because of the new intensive security, searching and screening methods there,” Mr. Rahming noted “What we are seeing is persons desperate to get their drugs into the United States and those who are allowing themselves to be used by those persons.”
Drug sniffer dogs are used as part of screening methods at the harbour.
In all six of the arrest cases that police reported this year, they indicated that the alleged smugglers were singled out for searches after harbour security classified their behaviour as being fidgety and suspicious.
In all but the most recent case – where the packages of cocaine were reportedly strapped to the torsos and stomachs of the Eight Mile Rock couple – police said the hiding place for the contraband was in the underwear of the suspects.
Sharon Williams, The Bahama Journal
