The Tribune

EIGHTEEN foreign nationals were taken into custody on Sunday after police patrolling the cays around Bimini found them at a makeshift camp hidden in the bushes on Gun Cay.

Fifteen of the group are Ecuadorian nationals and three are from the Dominican Republic, police said. There were 14 men and four women.

According to police, officers on routine patrol of Gun Cay and the surrounding cays came across the camp in a bushy area on the western side of the cay shortly after 5.30pm. When officers investigated, they found the 18 people there. Police said the group reportedly could not communicate in English.

The group was taken into custody for immigration-related matters and handed over to the Department of Immigration for processing.

Police did not say how the group reached the cay, how long they had been there or whether anyone else is being sought in connection with the matter.

Sunday’s arrests come less than two months after immigration officers took eight foreign nationals into custody in Bimini. On September 18, seven Ecuadorians, six men and a woman, and a Haitian man were found inside a home in Bailey Town at around 9.30pm, the Department of Immigration said at the time. The group was taken to New Providence to appear in Magistrate’s Court on charges including overstaying and illegal entry.

Ecuadorians have featured repeatedly in migrant apprehensions on and around Bimini in recent years. In September 2023, the Royal Bahamas Defence Force apprehended 17 Ecuadorians, 11 men and six women, along with two Bahamian men after their vessel was found about 35 nautical miles south-east of Bimini. Defence Force officials said they suspected a possible migrant smuggling operation.

In February 2022, five Ecuadorians were caught after a chase at a resort in Alice Town, Bimini. Police said at the time that they had noticed an increase in reports of suspected human smuggling on the island.

Police are appealing to anyone with information about the incident to come forward.