Drug canoe seized off Spotts
(CNS): A 32-foot boat with 600lbs ganja on board was intercepted off the coastline of Grand Cayman early this morning (Tuesday, September 8) by Marine Unit Officers. Police report that seven men were arrested – five aboard the vessel and two on land – on suspicion of importation of a controlled drug and possession of a controlled drug with intent to supply. Four of the men, who have given Jamaican addresses, have also been arrested on suspicion of illegal entry into the Cayman Islands.
The men are in police custody and the vessel has been seized by the Royal Cayman IslandsPolice Service (RCIPS). The operation involved officers from the joint Police, Customs and Immigration Marine Unit, Drugs Task Force and Uniform Support Group.
The boat was intercepted off the Spotts coastline at around 12.30am this morning by Marine Unit Officers aboard Tornado and Cayman Defender. The Helicopter was also utilized and proved to be a valuable resource during the operation.
“We know drugs and other contraband arrives in the Cayman Islands by boat. Marine Unit officers, along with other departments, are working hard to protect our borders and intercept these vessels,” said Superintendent Kurt Walton head of the Marine Unit and DTF. “This was a well executed multi-agency operation to target those involved in the importation of illegal drugs into the Cayman Islands.”
The Maine Unit and Drugs Task Force welcome information about the importation of drugs or reports of suspicious activity at sea or on the coast line. Officers can be contacted directly on 979-7710. People can also call Crime Stoppers on 800-8477 (TIPS). All persons calling Crime Stoppers remain anonymous, and are eligible for a reward of up to $1000, should their information lead to an arrest or recovery of property/drugs.
Category: Headline News
Excellent job, RCIP!!!
Name and Shame Them.
CNS, when this matter reach Court, please post an article naming these criminals and their known address of residence.
I would like to really know who the locals are and hope that they don’t have a child or children. Criminals stop importing drugs to our country and setting a bad example for your children.
Thanking you in advance CNS.
Got U
In response to the comments made by "Laura".
If you have proof that certain cops are "dirty", why don’t you report them to the relevant authorities? You need to stop making such comments regarding our police officers, unles you are willing to do something about it. Our officers are among some of the best in the world.
If you have a situation in the middle of the night, who are you going to call?
GHOSTBUSTERS!
(Lol, sorry, I couldn’t resist)
I, too, would like to know how these seized drugs are discarded of. There should be a public record of date, time and place of the disposal / burning of the found ganga and cocaine. While I am very supportive of the RCIPS in their endeavours to make our country a safer one, particularly while under much public mockery and scrutiny, I know that the Cayman Islands is not exempt from a few dirty cops who enable criminals. There needs to be full accountability in all areas of Government, the RCIPS, not withstanding.
With that said, congrats to the officers who were instrumental in this operation.Until the accountability issue is resolved, I have no choice but to have faith that you are doing what is best for my homeland.
you all are saying thank you officers, we all dont know what the police forces are gonna do with the drugs, we have very dirty polices in this island and would still sell the drugs etc off. They have been improving on their work but who to trust?! They are dirty cops
Thank You anonymous 21:50 for uncovering the truth the omission is duly noted. What is most fascinating is the same persons involved with dismantling the old DTF are now having to go back to her former strategies. What ashame Cayman all this crucial time has been lost because of certain unscrupulous and devious persons. Saying that Mr Baines seem to be turning things around and he should be congradulated for this, as it is a welcome change. Congrats RCIPS job welldone!
Well done to all involved in the drug interdiction operation. Now I have no idea what amount of money was spent to purchase these drugs but I would easily assume the it must be in the $100,000s. Until the RCIP are able to follow the money involved in this smuggling to the source then whose who are caught are merely the hired help.
What the article failed to mention was that it was a joint operation between the Jamaican and the Caymanian police to catch these perpetrators. http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=12375 Good job to both sides and I do hope this is the beginning of a mutually beneficial relationship, once we realise that drugs induces crime which ultimately hurts the country. Jamaica is a prime example of this and I do hope Cayman nabs the problem in the bud, before it has a chance to get worst.
Congrats RCIPS !!! Lets work together for the betterment of our countries.
Sorry, but I fail to see how this was a "joint" operation between the Jamiacan authorities and the DTF???? The article states that the men were all arrested in Cayman and nowhere does it say how the Jamaican "authorities" were even involved. Are we to assume that they provided the information which led to the interception?? It would seem as that is what the article would like to imply….This begs the question, if the Jamiacan authorities had information that drugs were being smuggled from Jamaican to Cayman, then whey didn’t they intercept them? I think this is a classic case of another agency trying to piggyback and take some undeserved credit for the fine police work that it took to intercept this shipment of drugs..Sorry, "Kingfish", you’re going to have to do better than this…..If Jamaica wants to take credit for being involved in the war on drugs, they had better start at home and not in Cayman….
COMMENTS 11:54, Says, Honestly I cant sing enough. Now this is the kind of comment that is a well worth reading. It is High Noon, and the people of these Islands need to continue giving the police their support. One thing I can say never in my life time have I seen the police force being so vigilent in attacking crime. I mean they are leaving no stones unturned. This is what we need here, That DTF Marine is what I call a Vigilent Force. Good Training. Trust me they seems to be hitting left right and centre; you know like how the tune plays, five cents, ten cent, dollar, dollar, dollar.
Keep up the good work RCIP, and thank you Cayman for deciding that enough is enough. Help the police and you will enjoy having your children and grand children. Make sure the police get good food to eat too, by paying them well. They do not need to be eating anydonoughts and soft drink either. They deserve to be treated good because while we are sleeping in our beds they are making sure that Cayman is safe for your children and Grand children. God walk with them.
Good DTF Operation Supt. Kurt Walton and officers. For the moments it’s Ganja, maybe it’s other substances or items concealed within the bales of Ganja which the DTF officers may find in follow-up searches.
Good job again, way to go guy’s !!!!
Shaun Ebanks
Drugs, guns and ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS. I think we would be surprised to know how many unaccounted persons there are in the Cayman Islands, through this same source.
Happy to see this catch and hope that surveillance will be stepped up even further.
Good job guys.
Did you know that in some countries, the penalties for drug importation is a life sentence. "YES"
Cayman and our Justice system need to step up and put the max on these criminals. Make/set an example of these criminals and you will see a decreased in the importation of drugs and guns. Put fear in them and they will think twice of doing this.
Put a few life sentance in place for capital murder and stop releasing these criminals after serving ten (10) or less years in prison.
Got U
Well done RCIP DTF & Marine Units!
Nice report. Now why don’t the police send out a press release about the hundreds of innocent people they send to "trial by ambush" in hopes of them pleading guilty and paying their fine to make it go away. I encourage everyone who’s going through this to plead not guilty thus negating these terrifying revenue measures by tying up the courts and public coffers with trials. If the police are going to treat justice as a numbers game then we’ll play right along. We’ll see how many tens of thousands of dollars they are willing to spend trying innocent people for $100 fines. If you’re not guilty – PLEAD NOT GUILTY! Don’t be bullied.
Justice for all!
Huh? Not sure what this has to do with the report.
Has nothing to do with anything!!
If by the term "ambush" you actually mean "entrapment", please explain how the Police could possibly compell Cayman residents to show up in the middle of the night to assist with an illegal landing and unloading of 600lbs of cargo?!? How does that generous coordinated midnight assistance happen accidentally?
XXXXXXX Bravo RCIP!
Please re-read my post and then look up the term "Trial by Ambush". I am happy about this drug bust and am not referring to this case. If the police care to make a press release regarding my accusations then we’ll have a proper place to discuss my concerns. Until then, I have to piggyback on these token stories.
One drug bust amongst all the unsolved murder cases, foiled high profile investigations, and rediculous summoning of innocent people does not impress me.
Bravo RCIP! Now get the other 99% of your cases right.
Dat U dere E-Normous? I wit U my brutha. Justice must served
This is soooooo good news, cant wait to know exactly who they are, they need to name and shame all of them.
i suppose you’re the kind who feeds off others tribulations to make your personal image the better. BOOOO to you- lots of negative happens indeed, but making the spectacle of ‘can’t wait to name and shame them’ only shames you for being the ultimate sell out. humble yourself fool.
Any naming and shaming should at least await charges. Being caught red-handed in act of the criminal activity of drug smuggling which leads to other serious crimes is hardly a "tribulation". I do not see that there is any room for sympathy. That fact that you do says something about you. Your use of the term "sellout" suggests that you are a person who would be involved in criminal activity or would cover for those who are. You are the sort of person whose attitude has contributed to our crime problem.
The drugs, the guns, and the people who peddle in all levels of illicit business on our islands have to be confronted and punished if the behavior is ever to be changed. Thank you DTF, and Marine Unit for taking a stand.
I don’t know what these young people are thinking about? The drug trade seems attractive with the money, cars and houses, but the risks are so high, is it really worth it at the end of the day? Nice, handsone young men are going to prision every day on this Island and it is terrible.
So if the young men in question were ugly would that be ok?
I think the person is trying to say no one is ugly.
"The Helicopter was also utilized and proved to be a valuable resource during the operation."
HA HA HA!!!
See, the helicopter would have done so much drug and gun import busts already had it been used from the start! But nooooooooooo, we had to fire Mr. Kernohan who was the one who was the mastermind of bringing in the helicopter to the island to do these exact very things of reducing drug and gun smuggling into our island, which is a major way to reduce violent crimes, robberies, burglaries and murders in our Country. Look at all that crazy time wasted how much damage has already been done in all that time wasted!
Mr. Kernohan, there is no apology that would be big enough to you Sir for the damage those in authority have caused you which also resulted in major damage to our Country! Not just damage by reputation to our Country, but major damage with more drugs and guns coming in that have wrecked havoc on our Country in the past couple years!
About time they wake up from being dumb, dumber and dumbest!!!!!!!!!!
MR. KERNOHAN DESERVES A HUGE APOLOGY FROM ALL OF THE AUTHORITIES THAT OPPOSED HIM! GOD BLESS YOU MR. KERNOHAN!
I agree that Mr. Kernohan deserves an apology from this country. I still believe he was doing his best to prevent corruption in the RCIPS. We should have gotten that helicoper from so long ago. Mr. Kernohan, I hope you win your lawsuit. As a Caymanian, that’s going hurt, but fair is fair and the past government had it our for him from the start. What burned me up so much is that all of a sudden everyone was a helicopter expert who actually didn’t know a helicopter from their $ss and you know who you are.
Firstly, the helicopter is not the proper machine to use for these types of operations; a fixed-wing aircraft with the appropriate equipment is. For theCayman Islands, a fixed-wing aircraft is more cost and operationally effective.
Secondly, the successful apprehension of those drug runners is the kind of work which will make a real difference in reducing crime.
To those officers who risk their lives on the front-line daily I say thank you.
Well done, RCIP, Customs, DTF and Immigration! Keep up the good work. You are restoring our confidence in you.
no sa! Suprise they could float… hope the police keep up the good work
Congrats RCIPS for a job well done keep it up I am very proud of the Marine Unit lets see more of this just remember the old times together all thing are possible just use what you are trained for with the awesome boats that you have.
Nice catch, congratulations on a successful operation.
Lets hit these offenders with harsh prison terms and send the message out to the criminals here and their suppliers in neighbouring countries that drug dealing will not be tolerated.
I know a lot of people will argue that it’s only a bit of weed and it shouldn’t be illegal anyway, but it is illegal and until that changes we should continue to prosecute the dealers and wholesalers. Drug dealing is the major driver in all the crime and especially the violent crime and murders in the Cayman Islands, so this haul, while in the greater scale of things is fairly insignificant, is still helping to keep a little control on Cayman’s risiing violent crime rates.
Keep up the good work and lets keep intercepting the boats shipping in weapons and drugs.
About time…there must be dozens of these little craft making the night time drop bringing in all sorts of things. I am sure this is how many weapons get into Cayman.
This has to be one of the top areas where the RCIP should be ramping up measures substantially.
Honestly, I cant sing enough praises for law enforcement officers for this. This is what we have been wanting. These type of operations on vessels coming from Jamaica and Honduras, should help to decrease the amount of drugs and GUNS (especially guns) that come into our country.
Thank you to all our officers on this operation…now please do this consistently and continue the PR effort to keep the public informed. This will allow us to clearly see your efforts and successes as well allow us as a country to plan and strategize.
God’s speed to Comm. Baines and his officers.