The Tribune

By SANCHESKA BROWN Tribune Staff Reporter sbrown@tribunemedia.net NATIONAL Security Minister Tommy Turnquest said yesterday he was "not pleased" with a US State Department report that criticised the ability of the police to combat Haitian-Bahamian drug operations. The newly released 2012 edition of the department's International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) said the Police Force continues to lack sufficient Creole speakers to combat the major role played by Haitian-Bahamian gangs in the drugs trade. It said: "Haitian and Haitian-Bahamian drug trafficking organisations continue to play a major role in the movement of cocaine from Hispaniola through the Bahamas. Investigations of these organisations are hindered by an enduring lack of Creole speakers within the DEU." Mr Turnquest said the report was not completely accurate and does not reflect the true nature of the RBPF. "I wasn't very pleased with the incident report his year. I think that the relationship between the United States and the Commonwealth of the Bahamas has always been excellent in terms of drug interdiction and drug control. We continue to work very closely particularly with OPBAT and other areas, so some of the comments in this report I thought were not as accurate at they ought to have been," he said. "We are one of the leaders in the fight against drug trafficking and drug abuse and drug control efforts and we did not think the report reflected our leadership in that role. So we are taking that up in diplomatic channels with the United States of America. "We are satisfied that we are properly able to interview all persons taken into custody whether they are Creole speaking, French speaking, German speaking, Italian speaking, Russian speaking or any other nationality. I am satisfied that we have the capacity in the Bahamas. I am not at all disturbed that we are unable to properly interview and investigate matters that come before police." According to the report, the Bahamas government continues to be a "stalwart ally" of the United States in the fight against illegal narcotics trafficking, primarily through Operation Bahamas, Turks and Caicos (OPBAT), a multiagency and international drug interdiction effort established in 1982 to stop the flow of cocaine and marijuana through the Bahamas to the United States. "The government of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas also co-operates to target Bahamian drug trafficking organisations and to reduce the Bahamian domestic demand for drugs," it said. The report said Bahamian law enforcement organisations continue to evolve and build their capacity to fight drug traffickers. "Improvements in the justice sector, particularly improved prosecution and extradition practices, would help the government of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas to more effectively disrupt and dismantle narcotics trafficking networks and address the rise in drug and gang-related crime," it said.