The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

NATIONAL Security Minister Wayne Munroe said the closure of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) office in Freeport, Grand Bahama, is not connected to a recent explosive federal indictment or reflective of trust issues between the two countries.

“If we’re not cooperating with them, then they should need more, not less,” he said. “The example I give is this: People get upset that we don’t have an ambassador and what I tell people is, the countries that are problematic always have an ambassador.

“The countries that are not so problematic, you could perhaps leave with something less. But I don’t have any sort of indication that there’s anything other than a resource issue for them.”

The Miami Herald reported in October that The Bahamas’ DEA office was among 14 foreign operations the DEA was shutting down.

A spokesperson told the American newspaper the decision was made after “a thorough review of our foreign operations, which was initiated in August 2021 and completed in March 2023”.

“DEA made a strategic decision to reallocate resources to focus on what matters most: saving American lives by attacking every link of the global synthetic drug supply chain,” the Miami Herald reported.

A US Embassy in Nassau representative said recently: “DEA collaboration through Operation Bahamas, Turks and Caicos (OPBAT) has consistently achieved significant success in combating drug trafficking in the region.”

“This strong partnership underscores our shared commitment to enhancing regional security and disrupting the flow of illegal narcotics. We remain dedicated to working closely with our Bahamian counterparts to ensure the safety and well-being of Bahamian and US citizenry.”

The news of the DEA’s Freeport office closure came a month before a US federal indictment claimed that drug traffickers have smuggled tons of cocaine through The Bahamas into the US since 2021, with the “support and protection of corrupt Bahamian government officials, including high-ranking members of the Royal Bahamas Police Force.”

RBPF officials are accused of denying DEA officials access to seized cocaine and related evidence, provided information contradicted by aerial surveillance and, “on at least one occasion, informed a DEA agent that certain drug-trafficking targets were ‘off-limits’.”