Hinds

A SENIOR member of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) says Jamaica would move with alacrity to request the extradition of a United States citizen if there was strong evidence linking such a person to trade in illegal firearms locally.

Since the signing of the Extradition Treaty by the United States and Jamaica in June 1983, the US government has requested the extradition of scores of Jamaicans who were allegedly involved in trafficking in drugs and firearms. Many Jamaicans extradited to the United States have been indicted and tried on drug-related charges.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Glenmore Hinds says the police force would not be averse to vigorously pursuing, through collaboration with US law enforcement, Americans or Jamaicans in the US who are allegedly shipping arms to Jamaica.

Sufficient case

"If we are satisfied that we would have made out a sufficient case to warrant that request, absolutely, certainly we would. We would ask the relevant authority to make that request," Hinds says.

In a Gleaner interview, Hinds points out that the JCF has worked with law enforcement in the US to identify the origins of firearms sent from that country to Jamaica.

"We have not been able to prosecute (Americans) locally but we have been able to prosecute Jamaicans who are sending back weapons to Jamaica," Hinds adds.

The senior cop says it is difficult to police the flow of illicit arms out of the US to Jamaica, primarily because of the liberal gun control laws in some states.

"The tracing of firearms might stop at the first or second purchaser, and quite often there might be a third, a fourth and fifth purchaser, so it leaves not much to trace at some point," he explains.

"In some states, there are some calibre of firearms that can be disposed of at will.

The US will tell you that they have several thousand guns on their streets but they are not killing anybody, it is not a fundamental problem to them," he adds.

Asked whether the importation of illegal firearms was trending down, Hinds says he could not give an accurate assessment.

"We do know that over the last few years, the attempts at smuggling through our control ports might reduced because of things that have been done at the ports," he adds.

He says the island continues to grapple with the problem of illicit firearms being shipped into local ports through break bulk cargo.

But the JCF has been pursuing another strategy locally that is intended to reduce the importation of illegal firearms and ammunition.

Hinds says the approach has been to target the main commodity traded for arms.

"The ganja eradication programme, we have stepped up significantly. We have also been able to interdict several thousand pounds ready to be (exported)."