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By Annan Boodram |
Customs officers arrested 15 people who had arrived at Gatwick on a British Airways flight onthe morning of Tuesday December 11. The 13 charged, four of them women, were believed to have swallowed the cocaine. They were held by customs officers at Gatwick airport while the drugs pass through their systems. They each could face up to 10 years in jail.
Another seven people, of unknown nationality, were arrested after police allowed a "mule" on the same flight to carry a large package of cocaine through the airport and followed him to where he was delivering the drugs. The seven were being held at Brixton police station in South London. Customs officers also discovered 25 kilogrammes of cannabis in the suitcase of a British resident travelling on the flight. It's not clear if the smugglers were part of a ring or acting separately.
Customs spokeswoman, Nadine Smith, said all the arrests were made under the auspices of Operation Trident -- a joint customs and police operation to tackle Jamaican Yardie gangs. She said the arrests underlined the fact that the British authorities would not tolerate drug smuggling and that those who attempted to swallow drugs were likely to get caught. According to Smith, the British authorities knew that people on this flight were carrying drugs and four passengers were prevented from boarding the flight in Kingston. She added that airlines often notified British airports when passengers' behaviour was suspicious, so many smugglers were detected before they arrived. Sources at the British High Commission in Kingston said that stewardesses often informed UK officials if passengers refused to eat or drink -- typical behaviour of those who swallow drugs.
Customs officers have stressed that concealing drugs inside the body is extremely dangerous. In October, a Jamaican woman died on a plane arriving at Heathrow from Kingston. A post-mortem found she had swallowed 55 pellets of cocaine. More than 30 other people were rushed to hospital from Heathrow this year after packages of drugs burst inside them. Nadine Smith added that "the criminal gangs who control drug smuggling from Jamaica to the UK tell the mules that they will be OK, that they will take care of them, it's rubbish, they don't care an iota, the mules are dispensable and are totally left on their own once they get here".
Smith added that customs officers believe many of those who swallow drugs are not aware of how severe the penalties are. She said traffickers tell the "mules" that they will be deported if they are caught and not end up in prison. But, she said, people apprehended with drugs at UK airports should expect to go to jail. Underlining this, several Jamaicans were given prison terms of up to six years for drug smuggling at a court near Heathrow two weeks ago.
The British High Commission in Kingston said the latest arrests were "good news" as they would deter people from trying to smuggle drugs. Spokeswoman Mags Fenner said there was clearly a problem of drug smuggling from Jamaica, as well as other places. But she said, "I don't think customs and excise tars everyone with the same brush. There is no assumption that everyone coming from Jamaica is carrying drugs." She added that she did not believe the latest arrests would tarnish the reputation of Jamaica.
"I don't believe that people in the UK think of Jamaica and immediately think of drug carrying and Yardies," she said. "They think of beaches and sunshine and holidays. Jamaica has its problems but so does everywhere else."
Meanwhile Jamaican authorities have revealed that at least 10 of some 150 drug mules have died from the effects of swallowing cocaine since the start of the year. Six more were busted on the night of Friday December 14 by narcotics detectives - five at the Norman Manley International Airport and one at a hospital in Clarendon.
Senior Superintendent Carl Williams, head of the Jamaican Police Force Narcotics Division, tolf the Jamaican Gleaner out that since the start of the year more than 150 persons, who have ingested cocaine in an attempt to smuggle it out of the island, have been caught and at least 10 have died.
"Four of them died last month," Mr. Williams said.
Reports are that five of the suspects caught on December 14 were destined for the United Kingdom. They were nabbed at the Norman Manley Airport. It is alleged that a sixth person was apprehended at a hospital in Clarendon.
"We understand that she too was scheduled to leave (that) Friday night for England but, prior to her departure, she began vomiting and complained of not feeling well. She was taken to the May Pen Hospital," said SSP Williams.
Mr. Williams explained that it is a dangerous practice to swallow packets of cocaine and attempt to smuggle them out of the island. He has appealed to would-be smugglers to desist from the practice.