Tripartite security meeting focus
on drug and human trafficking
PHILIPSBURG--A tripartite security meeting convened Thursday and attended by senior representatives of law enforcement agencies on St. Martin, St. Maarten and Anguilla addressed concerns about drug and human trafficking in this region.
The meeting was held in the conference room of Dr. A.C. Wathey Cruise and Harbour Facilities in Pointe Blanche and was chaired by Windward Islands Police Chief Commissioner Derrick Holiday.
Holiday told reporters that members of the tripartite group placed much emphasis on ways and means of strengthening their efforts at cooperation and on the need for an information system that they can all share.
The main agenda points for the meeting were basic policing issues, Immigration, Customs, and Maritime issues that affect the relationship between the islands and ways of improving communication in these areas to continue combating crime.
Anguilla Police Chief Keithly Benjamin said he had long ago recognized the benefits derived from cooperation with the French Side and St. Maarten. This he said directly countered the tendency of criminals to cross borders for protection, and made it possible for easy apprehension and repatriation of suspects. He said while extradition required treaties and could become a difficult and long process, his office dealt with the fact that in most cases the suspects entered the island illegally and as such it was simple to just repatriate them.
Chief Immigration Officer on Anguilla Laureen Bryan said Anguilla Day had come to be a St. Maarten Day on Anguilla and the doors of the island were always open to those who would come to the island on August Monday.
However, she said that the laws of the land should not be circumvented and it is a good idea to register as an arriving passenger when you visit. Benjamin said those who fail to respect the law “may well have an extended stay on the island.”
French Gendarme Spokesman Captain Lalouat, who leaves for France after ending three years of service on St. Martin in July, said he had seen first hand the benefits of cooperation with the capture of Anguillan fugitive Bryan Stevens who was captured on French St. Martin a few years ago.
He said the cooperation should improve over the coming months and years, as the overall benefit is improved security for the islands with criminals having no place to run.
He said currently on St. Martin they were concerned about car thefts and the Gendarmes had deployed a special control unit that constantly organized controls on the island’s main roads.
He said that in the coming months the Gendarmes will seek to work even closer with Detectives on Dutch St. Maarten and Anguilla as the collaboration usually results in major arrests of criminals and disruption of illegal operations.
