Interceptions by US Coast Guard follow talks on migrant trafficking
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| Published on Monday, May 19, 2008 |
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PROVIDENCIALES, Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI-GIS): On Friday, May 9, 2008, the Governor of the Turks and Caicos Islands, Richard Tauwhare, led a delegation to Nassau, Bahamas, for the Second Trilateral Meeting between representatives of the United States, the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, hosted by US Ambassador Ned L. Siegel.
This meeting followed the first Trilateral Meeting that Governor Tauwhare held in Grand Turk on December last year, and allowed the parties to continue their discussions concerning how best to combat the drug and migrant trafficking threats facing the region.
The parties engaged in in-depth practical discussions about how best to integrate assets, share intelligence and engage with the governments of Haiti and the Dominican Republic in order to fight the common regional threats of drug and migrant trafficking.
Representatives from the United States and British Embassies in Haiti and the Dominican Republic provided an on-the-ground assessment of drug and migrant trafficking trends within the two countries, the local governments' capacities to combat these threats, the type of assistance the United States, The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands might provide to improve Haitian and Dominican law enforcement and increase the capabilities of these governments to provide economic security to its citizens.
The parties appointed a task force to follow-up on how to better coordinate existing assets, integrate newly arrived asset into the existing Operations Bahamas Turks and Caicos (OPBAT) framework and share intelligence.
The task force will also plan future joint operations, explore ways to share information with Haitian and Dominican law enforcement and look at improving security at air and sea ports.
Finally, the task force will examine draft legislation to regulated wooden-hulled sailing sloops believed to play a key role in drug and migrant smuggling.
The Bahamian government will host the next Tripartite Meeting in September.
Within 24 hours of conclusion of the talks, the US Coast Guard intercepted two Haitian sail freighters in the Windward Passage carrying a total of 193 Haitian migrants. The first boat was intercepted just 20 nautical miles south of Great Inagua, the second was apprehended later the same day, northeast of Isla de Tortue, Haiti.
With a combination of air and surface assets, the Coast Guard worked to transfer all migrants safely to the Coast Guard ships as the sloops were dangerously overloaded. The boats were then destroyed at sea as a hazard to maritime navigation and the migrants were repatriated to Haiti. | | | | Reads : 661 | | | |
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