Coast guard and RCIPS join cross-border bust
(CNS): The Cayman Islands Coast Guard (CICG) recently participated in an international operation that netted 14 suspected smugglers, over 5,000lbs of ganja worth almost $4 million on the street, two maritime vessels, one gun, 91 rounds of ammunition and US$9,000. Operation Rip Tide, which also involved the RCIPS Joint Marine Unit, the United States Coast Guard and the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), was the first multi-agency mission in more than ten years where Cayman law enforcement officials were deployed on foreign military vessels in support of counter-drug operations.
During the operation, CICG Lieutenant Commander Leo Anglin and RCIPS Police Constable Adrian Clarke were deployed on board the Jamaican Defense Force Coast Guard’s offshore patrol vessels HMJS Cornwall and HMJS Middlesex, as well as the USCG’s Venturous.
Anglin said, “This type of joint operation lets us leverage inter-agency partnerships to target maritime smuggling organisations responsible for the illicit trafficking of persons, drugs and weapons, within the region.”
Lieutenant Commander Wenk, the USCG Military Attaché in Jamaica, said it was great to see multiple law enforcement agencies collaborating on security.
“The United States is committed to working with Jamaica and the Cayman Islands to counter transnational criminal organisations that threaten the safety and stability of Caribbean nations,” he said. “The Cayman Islands have been key contributors in the fight against illicit activity in the maritime domain and remain more than willing to assist Jamaica and the United States in fighting illicit maritime activity in the region.”
Commodore Wemyss-Gorman, the officer in charge of the JDF’s Maritime, Aviation and Cyber Command added, “Collaborations like this go a long way towards strengthening the network of law enforcement agencies against nefarious actors in our maritime space. The JDF is fully committed to the fight and looks forward to future engagements of this type.”
Robert Scotland, the head of Cayman’s new coast guard agency, said, “The experience that was gained and the exchange of professional knowledge will help us build a professional Coast Guard that is respected within the region. We look forward to further participation in Joint training exercises and operational deployments of this kind as they will only server to help with this objective.”
Category: Coast Guard, Crime
That’s sounds like a lot of resources to seize a measly amount of contraband.
I strongly suspect those resources could have been used more effectively and efficiently in a way that is better aligned with COMMON values of the majority not just the values of some.
Millions of dollars used to seize ONE firearm, some rounds and a months supply of weed, is not bang for buck IMO, especially considering the direction that public opinion and legislation is moving in regarding cannabis.
Oh bwoy, the sh*t almost sounds made up. Millions of dollars spent for one gun and sh*tty ammo, some little divestment of drugs off street cornas and as usual every govt crony giving theirselves a pat on the back for just doing their job. if this was a private enterprise, they would look at this exercise as a loss. I guess experience comes in very expensive excercises
Leagalise weed
There are very greedy reasons why our transparency-allergic politicians want to expand our under-capacity port and introduce Chinese-control. It’s almost certainly not what they are telling us. We shouldn’t embrace a role where we cede oversight and control to nefarious actors. We risk becoming a regional non-USA clearing and sorting hub for Chinese cocaine/meth pre-cursor chemicals, northbound transatlantic and European bulk drug shipments, Venezuelan gold/oil, organs, weapons, or humans. Looking at the dossiers of the key characters, it’s likely to be just as bad as can be feared, and probably already paid in crypto. Free bug-out condos in the iconic tower for the Chinese and cartel leaders.
Anyone got any idea what has happened to the Coast Guard? Two commanders appointed almost a year ago, and still an RCIPS marine unit with half the vessels broken and no staff or morale. Anyone else wondering?
How long did you think it would take to get the Coast Guard up and running?
Like most things in CIG, an actionable plan ought to take about 45 minutes.
Surely you mean 45 years not minutes?
I guess this where you snap your fingers and up pops a fully functioning Coast Guard. Just brilliant!
While I recognize the role of our border control agencies, it’s unlikely that the single gun discovered in this incident was being “smuggled”. If I were a canoe drug-runner I would travel with some protection. I’m of the belief that any viable smuggling guns involves at least more than one weapon.
Anyway, I recognize that they have no option but to seize all that they find – drugs and guns.
When they see 600 ft and 1700 tons of naval displacement bearing down on their ramshackle drug convoy, the guns and ammo are most likely cast overboard into 12,000ft of abyssal trench. Someone obs forgot to throw that one over.
Great job. Get those guns off our streets!
Don’t mean to burst your bubble, but they did the exact same operation a year ago with the same name.
Has smuggling suddenly stopped? Nope.
Remove the incentive to smuggle and sell on a black market by regulating the herb like tobacco and alcohol.
There is always another illicit cargo to smuggle – the business model of a smuggler doesn’t change with the legalization of transshipments. It just gets much more complicated and dangerous for enforcement patrols and without an attending interest in addiction control, it’s disingenuous at best.
Cannabis is obviously the cash cow here. Everything else from weapons to people are brought along for the ride.
Without the major incentive, there is much less reward for the risk.
Am, but it yielded results! Who cares if its the same one. I guess you intend to set up a dispenser and make money from it right?
You damn right I will be one of the first Caymanians to enter the Cannabis industry once it becomes legal in a decade or less!
Thank god I’ll be caymanian then too
Better yet don’t let those guns reach our streets, not even our waters. BUT got to first root out the fake officers within.