Jamaican drug gangs take to the air

Wednesday, February 4, 2004

KINGSTON, Jamaica: Drug gangs seeking safer ways to smuggle Colombian cocaine through Jamaica are increasingly taking to the skies, using light planes to deliver tons of drugs at remote airstrips or to make air drops to waiting boats. 

According to a report by the Washington Times, in response, anti-drug police agencies are shifting tactics to meet the trend in airborne smuggling that relies on small single- and twin-engine planes. 

The upsurge in drug flights has not only riveted the attention of narcotics law enforcement personnel, but also raised concern among the island's legitimate light-plane operators. They worry that as police crack down on the drug flights, they will be tarnished and suffer losses as the drug war focuses on light planes. 

The upsurge in drug flights is "something that we are very, very concerned about", said Jamaica's top narcotics officer, Carl Williams. 

Light planes now haul about 15 percent of the cocaine that passes through Jamaica annually, Mr. Williams estimated. Thanks to Jamaica's largely unpopulated coastline and strategic geographic location, it's one of the region's main trans-shipment points for Colombian cocaine. 

Jamaica is also the Caribbean's biggest "ganja" (marijuana) producer, and light planes play a role in that trade as well, said Mr. Williams. 

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