Police arrested three persons on suspicion that they were aiding the illegal entry of immigrants from Haiti after 30 refugees were discovered on Cat Island and arrested in separate instances.
Searches were still being conducted yesterday on the island.
Authorities cracked what appeared to be an illegal immigration ring that was operating through the island after nabbing four Haitians in a vehicle in Old Bight on Tuesday morning, according to Police Inspector Walter Evans.
The arrests were made soon after Defence Force officials reported that U.S. Coast Guard officials apprehended a group of 311 Haitian immigrants on Anguilla Cay this week.
Inspector Evans explained that a police patrol unit made the first arrest, determining that three of the four Haitians who were in the vehicle that roused their suspicions around 4a.m. Tuesday had just sailed into Cat Island.
Soon afterwards police searched the New Bight settlement where 14 males and two females were found hiding in bushes.
“A secondary search was carried out and police netted 12 men and two women who were caught in bushes in the settlement of Old Bight around 2a.m. [Wednesday] morning.
“Police have also taken three Haitian nationals – two men and one woman – who are very familiar with the layout of Cat Island. It is believed that these persons were assisting illegal immigrants with transportation and food.”
Officials have long disclosed that the illegal immigrants from Haiti who enter The Bahamas are being given refuge by former compatriots in some instances.
The arrests made in Cat Island was one of very few instances where police were exclusively involved in the apprehension of illegal migrants. Typically members of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force or the Immigration Department make the arrests.
Inspector Evans sought to give an explanation.
“When it comes to operations like those that deal with immigration, there is really a team approach-however when you look at an island like Cat Island which does not have the presence of a permanent immigration officer, the police will then take a leading role and then these persons would be handed over to immigration authorities for processing,” he said.
The archipelargic make-up of The Bahamas leaves it vulnerable to the transit of illegal migrants.
The Defence Force reported that a total of 369 Haitian immigrants had been apprehended in Bahamian waters over a three-day period.
These apprehensions came as Haiti prepares for internationally watched elections next month.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell recently pointed to the importance of those elections being successful.
“If the elections are successful you have a government that you can deal with in Haiti which has the respect of its people and that can reach out from Port-au-Prince to the borders where the problem of illegal migration [exists],” Minister Mitchell told the Journal.
“And that’s our hope and expectation.”
Prime Minister Perry Christie had classified illegal immigration and crime as issues which The Bahamas must get its arms around and tackle to the ground.
Plans were being made for the Haitians arrested in Cat Island to be turned over to immigration authorities.
By: Tameka Lundy, The Bahama Journal
