Sidney; You're probably a nice person, so you may want to read this. Sorry, board members, for taking up so much space, but perhaps you can send it to others you know so they stay out of harm's way. The out islands, including Eleuthera and Abaco, have more DEA agents than you may imagine. They have been on cooperative ventures with the Bahamian Govt. for years, and also have paid informants, or locals who they have on Washington's secret payroll, who are always on the lookout for people helping to pick up and haul to boats, etc., shipments of illegal drugs. True, the feds are after the big guys, and not some one who's blowing a joint in Marsh Harbor, but one of their paid informants may want to turn you in to the local gendarmes, just to stay active. It does happen, so I would not smoke dope on Abaco or any other out island. The jails are terrible and would fail prison standards in the U.S. Robert
International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, 1998
Released by the Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs,
U.S.Department of State
Washington, DC, February 1999

THE BAHAMAS

I. Summary

The Bahamas is a major transit point for South American cocaine and
Jamaican marijuana en route to the U.S. Very small amounts of cannabis
are grown on the islands for domestic consumption. The USG and the
Government of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas (GCOB) continue to enjoy a
productive and positive counterdrug working relationship. The GCOB
places a high priority on combating drug transshipments through its
archipelago, and is moving decisively to combat money laundering and
other drug-related crimes. The GCOB cooperates very closely with the USG
on our combined law enforcement effort, Operation Bahamas and Turks and
Caicos (OPBAT). The first country to ratify the 1988 UN Drug Convention,
the GCOB continues to take steps to implement it. Following passage of
strong anti-money laundering legislation in 1996, Bahamian authorities
are closely monitoring bank compliance and investigating suspicious
financial transactions.

U.S. and Bahamian law enforcement officials worked very closely
throughout the year to respond to notable increases in air and maritime
transshipment incidents. The GCOB is strongly emphasizing money
laundering and asset forfeiture investigations and prosecutions. The
GCOB also continued to strengthen its judicial system, with assistance
from the USG. However, unreliable jury pools and weaknesses in the drug
laws resulted in several major Bahamian drug dealers' evading conviction
in 1998. Despite committed and talented judicial leadership, The Bahamas
needs to improve the effectiveness of its court system in gaining
convictions against major drug dealers and trafficking organizations by
strengthening its drug trafficking laws and improving the prosecutorial
capabilities of the police prosecutors. The USG will continue to work
with the GCOB in this area, both bilaterally and through regional
training and assistance projects.

In December 1998, the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) Drug Enforcement
Unit (DEU) arrested two police officers from the RBPF Drug Canine Unit
at Nassau International Airport for allegedly working with a cocaine
trafficking ring. The GCOB needs to continue to move decisively against
corruption at Bahamian ports of entry.

II. Status of Country

The Bahamas will likely remain a target of narcotics traffickers well
into the future due to its geographic location. The Bahamas is a country
of approximately 275,000 people scattered over an area the size of
California, strategically located on the air and sea routes between
Colombia and the U.S. The Bahamian archipelago contains hundreds of
small, deserted islands used for transshipment and temporary drug
storage, and is only 40 miles from south Florida at its closest point.
The Bahamas has a strong anti-money laundering regime and is committed
to vigorous oversight of its financial sector. Nonetheless, the
country's bank secrecy laws, its role as a regional financial center,
and the existence of a largely unregulated international business
corporation (IBC) sector make The Bahamas an attractive potential target
for money laundering and other financial crimes.

III. Country Action Against Drugs in 1998

Policy Initiatives. During 1998, the GCOB continued its efforts to
fulfill the objectives of the 1988 UN Drug Convention by: (1)
establishing an intergovernmental committee to monitor financial sector
compliance with the 1997 money laundering implementing regulations; (2)
formally committing to designate the U.S. under Bahamian asset
forfeiture legislation, based on reciprocity, although legislation will
be required to so designate the U.S.; (3) committing to create a
financial intelligence unit (FIU) to investigate suspicious transaction
reports emanating from the financial sector; (4) committing to applying
for membership in the Egmont Group in 1999; (5) establishing a money
laundering/asset forfeiture investigative unit within the RBPF DEU; and
(6) creating a high-level, intergovernmental committee to draft the
country's first national drug strategy report. The GCOB's Office of
Public Prosecutions is working closely with the U.S. Department of
Justice to seize bank accounts in The Bahamas identified as part of the
large USG "Operation Casablanca" international money
laundering case. The GCOB's office of Legal Affairs continues to work
with the U.S. Department of Justice to improve cooperation on U.S.
requests for mutual legal assistance. The Central Bank of The Bahamas
continues to closely scrutinize banks' compliance with suspicious
transaction reporting requirements, and is working closely with the
Bankers' Association to undertake self-monitoring, including conducting
money laundering seminars for bank personnel.

Accomplishments. The GCOB, working closely with the USG, has completed a
project to link, via fiber optics, all of the courts, the offices of
public and police prosecutions, and the automated court reporters'
section. The project's purpose is to reduce delays in criminal,
especially drug, cases pending in the courts. The last step in the
project, to be completed in 1999-2000, will be to install a court case
management software system which will make The Bahamas' judiciary
virtually "paperless." Once this project is completed, the
Bahamian judicial system will become the most technologically advanced
in the region. Parallel to the computerization project, the Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court has implemented a project to identify
outdated court procedures which cause backlogs in the system. In April
1998, the Chief Justice led a USG-supported court delay reduction
workshop involving judges, registrars, prosecutors, and members of the
private bar. At that time, the Prime Minister, the Attorney General and
the Chief Justice publicly committed to reforming court procedures. The
Chief Justice tasked criminal and civil committees to present her with
recommendations for court reforms by the end of 1998. The Chief Justice
is committed to acting on these recommendations in 1999.

The RBPF DEU works very closely with U.S. law enforcement agencies,
through OPBAT, in interdicting drug transshipments and investigating and
arresting local drug traffickers. The DEU moved decisively in 1998 to
pursue money launderers by establishing a separate money laundering and
asset forfeiture investigative unit. With USG support, the money
laundering unit has participated in U.S.-sponsored money laundering
seminars, including one U.S.-funded seminar conducted by experts from
several U.S. agencies in The Bahamas for 55 GCOB and bank officials, and
has attended intensive financial investigations training programs in the
U.S. As a result of their increased financial investigative capacity,
the money laundering unit is undertaking several local asset forfeiture
investigations and is cooperating with U.S. and third country law
enforcement agencies on several major transnational money laundering
cases, including Operation Casablanca.

The Attorney General's Office of Public Prosecutions has likewise made a
strong commitment to drug-related money laundering prosecutions. The
Director of Public Prosecutions, a highly committed and
regionally-respected prosecutor, has designated an experienced public
prosecutor in her office to work solely on money laundering and asset
forfeiture cases. The Office of Public Prosecutions, working closely
with the DEU money laundering unit and the U.S. Department of Justice,
has successfully restrained U.S.$1.5 million in Operation
Casablanca-related bank accounts in The Bahamas. The office has also
restrained over U.S.$l0 million in other, third-country laundered
deposits held in Bahamian banks. The Office of Public Prosecutions does
a very professional job of prosecuting local drug dealers and
trafficking organizations. Their admirable efforts at conviction are
often thwarted by suspected jury corruption and weak drug laws.

The GCOB's decision to designate the U.S. under its asset forfeiture
laws, based on reciprocity, shows a serious commitment at the highest
levels to resolve a longstanding bilateral irritant. Once the scope of
reciprocity is resolved and the designation becomes official, the U.S.
and the Bahamas will be able to work more closely on transnational money
laundering cases.

The GCOB continues to cooperate with the U.S. on extradition requests,
based on the 1994 U.S.-Bahamas Extradition Treaty, but with mixed
results. There are several drug-related extradition requests pending in
the Bahamian court system.

The USG has donated computer equipment to assist the GCOB in improving
its response time to MLAT requests. The U.S. Department of Justice
continues to work with the Office of Legal Affairs to improve GCOB
responsiveness to U.S. mutual legal assistance requests. A delegation
from the Office of Legal Affairs traveled to Washington in August 1998,
to review pending U.S. MLAT requests.

The USG continues to work with the GCOB to assure that the large
container port facility in Freeport, Grand Bahama, does not become a
transshipment point to drug traffickers. Three Bahamian officials
attended an OAS-funded regional port security seminar in Barbados in
November 1998.

Law Enforcement. The RBPF continued its decade-long, active
participation with USG agencies and Turks and Caicos police in OPBAT, a
combined program designed to intercept narcotics shipments and arrest
traffickers in the Turks and Caicos Islands and in The Bahamas. USG
helicopters operating from three bases in the Bahamas facilitate these
operations. The GCOB continued to demonstrate its strong commitment to
OPBAT by continuing to fund its large counternarcotics strike force
unit.

Cocaine seizures in 1998 increased markedly over 1997 levels, which were
the highest since 1992. Marijuana seizures were down somewhat after the
near record year in 1997. Air activity increased again in 1998 and
overtook maritime transportation as the mode of preference in terms of
quantities of drugs moved through the Bahamas. Maritime incidents
involving go-fast boats, pleasure crafts, and fishing vessels have
remained somewhat stable from last year, but the use of coastal
freighters to transport drugs has risen. Law enforcement has
increasingly uncovered large loads (two metric tons or more) of cocaine
hidden in secret compartments of coastal freighters transiting through
Bahamian waters. Currently there are more coastal freighter vessels on
lookout than at any time in the past. USG agencies concur that there is
an upward trend by narcotraffickers in their use of Bahamian territory
for cocaine and marijuana transshipment into the southeastern United
States. This upward trend has been largely attributed to the USG
crackdown on counternarcotics trafficking through Puerto Rico, the U.S.
Virgin Islands, Mexico and across the southeastern U.S. border.

Traffickers are increasingly using tactics that make it difficult for
U.S. and Bahamian law enforcement to intercept their shipments. Among
these are the ever-increasing use of Cuban airspace and territorial sea
to evade OPBAT assets, the use of very high speed, low profile boats,
and the use of well-hidden compartments on large coastal freighters.

In February 1998, Bahamian and U.S. law enforcement officials boarded a
coastal freighter in Grand Bahama and seized 2,236 kilograms of cocaine.
Seizures from airdrops with loads ranging from 300 kilograms to 600
kilograms of cocaine occurred in March, May, September, and October
1998. U.S. and Bahamian law enforcement officials continue to discover
small marijuana patches on some of the remote Bahamian islands, though
no marijuana is known to be grown in sufficient quantities for export.

The Bahamian DEU works closely with DEA on drug investigations. It is a
special force within the RBPF composed of 84 officers (including the
counternarcotics strike force). During 1998, the GCOB had arrested 1,982
persons on drug charges and seized 3.68 metric tons of cocaine and 2.86
metric tons of marijuana. The DEU is presently conducting several money
laundering investigations based on the recently-passed anti-money
laundering law.

Under Bahamian law, the assets of a convicted drug offender are subject
to forfeiture. Unfortunately, defense attorneys for drug traffickers are
often able to delay their cases for many years. As a result, by the time
the drug traffickers' cases are adjudicated, the assets have lost much
of their value. Funds from the sale of forfeited assets are deposited in
the government's general fund. The Attorney General's office continues
to experience little success in forfeiting trafficking proceeds.

Corruption. As a matter of policy, the GCOB does not encourage or
facilitate illicit production or distribution of drugs, or the
laundering of illicit proceeds therefrom. The USG is not aware of senior
officials of the GCOB engaging in, encouraging, or facilitating the
illicit production or distribution of drugs, or the laundering of
proceeds from illegal drug transactions. Over the past several years,
some mid- and low-level officials who engaged in narcotics-related
corruption were prosecuted successfully. On December 16, the RBPF DEU
arrested two police officers from the RBPF Drug Canine Unit at Nassau
International Airport. The two handlers were allegedly working with a
drug trafficking ring to move cocaine through the airport via U.S. and
Bahamian air carriers to the southeastern U.S. Although the DEU has
conducted several operations against RBPF and RBDF corruption, the GCOB
needs to continue to move decisively against corruption at Bahamian
ports of entry. Delays and backlogs in the judicial system reduce the
possibility that corrupt officials or drug traffickers will serve
lengthy sentences. Reducing these delays and backlogs is the focus of
the court delay reduction initiative of the Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court.

Agreements and Treaties. The Bahamas is a party to the 1988 UN Drug
Convention. The GCOB works to accomplish the goals and objectives of
U.S.-Bahamas bilateral narcotics control agreements, which facilitate
cooperative action on a wide range of narcotics-control measures, such
as improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the judicial system,
impeding money laundering, reducing local demand for drugs, and
preventing the transshipment of drugs through Bahamian waters via OPBAT
and other bilateral law enforcement efforts.

The U.S.-Bahamas Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) facilitates the
bilateral exchange of information and evidence for use in criminal
proceedings. The MLAT can be used to pierce Bahamian bank secrecy laws
where credible evidence exists of narcotics crimes, money laundering, or
other serious offenses. The GCOB is generally responsive to MLAT
requests, although in some instances the USG has not been able to obtain
a satisfactory response.

The GCOB has been receptive to U.S. extradition requests, based on the
1994 U.S.-Bahamas Extradition Treaty, but with mixed results. Actual
extraditions continue to be slowed by procedural delays in the Bahamian
courts.

The U.S. and The Bahamas entered into a maritime counternarcotics
cooperation agreement in May 1996. The agreement permits the Bahamas to
embark Defence Force or Police officers to act as shipriders on U.S.
vessels operating in Bahamian waters. The agreement permits the U.S.
vessels to support these shipriders in Bahamian territorial seas to
board, search, and, if evidence warrants, seize U.S., stateless, or
third nation vessels; to enter Bahamian territorial seas to assist
Bahamian law enforcement personnel in the enforcement of Bahamian laws;
and to board, search, and seize Bahamian vessels on the high seas
suspected of involvement in criminal activity. This agreement also
authorizes USG law enforcement aircraft to overfly Bahamian territory.
Bahamian forces have participated in several combined maritime law
enforcement operations with the U.S. Coast Guard.

Drug Flow and Transit. During 1998, drug flow estimates for cocaine rose
considerably. Flow estimates for marijuana remained constant.

Demand Reduction Programs. The GCOB makes modest budgetary contributions
to demand reduction programs, especially in education and prevention. In
1998, the USG funded the first chemical dependency professional
certificate program in the history of The Bahamas. As a result of this
program, 30 Bahamians working in the areas of drug demand reduction and
abuse are now professionally trained. The USG provides some assistance
to the government's National Drug Council. The number of new drug users
has declined in the past ten years, but there are indications that
cocaine and crack abuse is on the rise. Most usage among young Bahamians
is largely restricted to marijuana.

IV. U.S. Policy Initiatives

Policy Initiatives. The goals of USG assistance to and presence in The
Bahamas are to dismantle trafficking organizations, stem the flow of
drugs through The Bahamas to the U.S., and strengthen Bahamian law
enforcement and judicial institutions to make them more effective and
self-sufficient in dealing with narcotics trafficking and money
laundering.

Bilateral Cooperation. The GCOB continues to allocate significant
budgetary resources to its counternarcotics efforts--approximately 14
percent of its annual budget--and to bilateral cooperation with the U.S.
Despite a high arrest success rate by the police, convictions of drug
dealers remain low due to weaknesses in local drug laws and suspect
juries. The GCOB commitment to OPBAT, through its funding of the RBPF
strike force unit, has led to close bilateral cooperation producing
numerous drug arrests and seizures. However, the Royal Bahamas Defense
Force (RBDF)--a potentially important player in counternarcotics
interdiction--has yet to clearly define its role in this effort.

The Road Ahead. The Bahamas' expansive archipelagic geography and
proximity to the U.S. guarantees it will be a target for drug
transshipment and other criminal activity for the foreseeable future.
Its niche as a financial center, its bank secrecy laws, and its liberal
international business corporation (IBC) regime make it vulnerable to
drug money laundering and other financial crimes. The Bahamians have
long maintained a strong track record of commitment to bilateral
counternarcotics efforts. The GCOB is now firmly supporting anti-money
laundering efforts as well. Because of the country's relatively small
budget and growing drug transshipment problem, the GCOB will continue to
depend upon significant USG assistance to fight international narcotics
trafficking and crime. The principal short- and medium-term objective of
U.S. counternarcotics assistance in The Bahamas is the strengthening of
the country's institutions to allow the GCOB to assume a greater share
of the burden of combating drug trafficking, money laundering, and other
criminal activity. A second key objective is to continue to deepen
U.S.-Bahamian counternarcotics, crime, and money laundering cooperation
to serve as a model in the hemisphere.

[end of document]

HTML of BAHAM98.xls

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TABLES for CY 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990

Seizures
Cocaine [mt] 3.68 2.58 0.12 0.39 0.49 1.80 4.80 5.26 3.53
Heroin [mt] - - - - 0.001
Marijuana [mt] 2.86 3.76 2.61 3.53 1.42 0.65 1.00 1.18 2.53

Arrests 1,982 1,894 1,576 1,565 1,025 1,023 1,135 1,085 1,443

Consumption negligible negligible negligible negligible negligible negligible negligible negligible negligible

(a) Of the total cocaine seized in 1993, .65 mt was seized in Bahamian territory.
(b) In 1992, one seizure totalling .75 mt took place in international waters.

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