July 29, 2005
Bahamas Human Smuggling Ring
It is nice to see the United States government acting on information BahamasB2B has been publishing concerning the illegal immigrant smuggling ring operating from the Bahamas.
We first reported the problem back in 2003 when we reported on the murder of a Polish sea captain at Fox Hill prison. The seaman was arrested after his boat rescued a couple dozen Chinese immigrants who had been stranded after their Bahamian smuggler's boat malfunctioned.
The Polish sea captain was arrested at high sea by Bahamian Defence Force marines who arrived after the captain radioed to shore that he would be bringing in a boatload of stranded refugees.
Most of the Chinese immigrants disappeared, presumbably smuggled into the US by other means. The captain and his crew, the only witnesses to the Defence Force's possible involvement in the smuggling ring, were imprisoned at Fox Hill prison. They were denied counsel, not allowed to make contact with their government and the captain was denied his diabetes medication... until he died. This, despite numeorus pleas for his medication which was left on his confiscated boat.
The rest of his crew was deported and were happy to leave after the experiencing the sub-human conditions of Fox Hill prison, a confinement that even a Bahamian judge has ruled inhumane and unconstitutional.
Yet, Davy Rolle is still at the helm of the Defence Force. Vincent Peet is still in charge of Immigration and immigrants (both Haitian and Chinese) are still being smuggled through the Bahamas. As evidenced by the big bust the US recently made.
It is sad that we Bahamians need to rely on the United States to weed our government of corruption. If only Bahamians had enough self-pride and personal dignity to do the job ourselves.
Posted by admin at July 29, 2005 02:36 PM | TrackBack