JULY 26TH, 2019 – AUGUST 2ND, 2019
VOLUME 15 - NO. 29
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GUN SMUGGLING RING By Todeline Defralien
P
olice in Turks and Caicos Islands are actively investigating a gun smuggling scheme where firearms are coming in from neighbouring countries, and which Commissioner of Police James Smith is linked to the increase in gun-related crimes and murders which the country has experienced in recent times. Smith said the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force is working “very closely” with American counterparts, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) and the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to crackdown on illegal guns entering the Turks and Caicos Islands. “We know that they are coming from multiple places because TCI is a fairly open country so you can get here from the Dominican Republic, Haiti, The Bahamas and of course from the United States. We don’t make guns here so we know that they are coming from overseas. We have good intelligence on where that might be and intelligence on who might be involved in it but as I said before, we need public help to make sure that people who are doing illicit stuff are being reported,” he explained during his final press briefing on Tuesday July 23rd at his Caribbean Place office. . Smith said he believed that installing scanners at various ports and points around the country would greatly assist in the curbing the gun smuggling activity. “We’re part of a partnership here so we need to improve border security in terms of customs checks, in terms of checks on the boats when they arrive in Turks and Caicos, (and)we need scanners at the docks to check the containers and the vehicles coming in for hidden components.... We are doing what we can to stem the violence.”
Ritz-Carlton hotel at 7 storeys and rising
Construction is progressing steadily on the 12-storey RitzCarlton project on Grace Bay, Providenciales.
This photo shows the property at seven storeys high, basically the same height as the neighbouring Seven Stars hotel.
On completion, the Ritz-Carlton will be the tallest hotel and building in the Turks and Caicos Islands. (Photo by Kelano Howell).
blight on this country and it is a was X and we know it was Y, but terrible blight on the Caribbean, they wouldn’t come forward and the number of young men losing provide evidence.” their lives to firearms, and until Meantime, although the we’re able to stop firearms from number of murders in the Turks coming in, I am not sure when and Caicos Islands increased at we could make a huge impact. certain points during Smith’s four- That’s why I firmly believe that year tenure as commissioner, he with better technology and more said the reality is that police can’t people dedicated to this, we can stop murders. make an impact on it.” “We went from quite a Smith indicated that people high number (of murders) in year know where the firearms are being one to a very low number in year hidden, who is in possession of two and then we’ve gone back up firearms, but they are not giving again. It (murder) is not really a that information out. crime that the police service can “I say this every time but stop happening. I wish we could, we do need the public to help but I think that it is reflective of us, every time we have a crime basically young men in possession reported and people don’t step up of firearms and solving disputes by and tell us what is going on it is the use of a firearm.” much more difficult but I will hear Police Commissioner James Smith He added: “It is a terrible people say but we know it POLICE CAN’T STOP MURDERS
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