The Tribune

ROYAL Bahamas Defence Force Commodore Raymond King said search efforts remain underway for some 60 Haitian migrants who were on board a vessel that illegally landed in South Andros on Tuesday.

He vowed that officers will not leave the island until they are found.

Commodore King said based on intel the RBDF received, some 100 suspected migrants were reported to be on board the Haitian sloop that ran aground in The Bluff area.

Forty-one were apprehended by authorities on Wednesday and the remaining migrants remain at large.

“Those 35-foot sloop vessels traditionally carry about 45 to 60 migrants on board. We were reliably informed that there were 100 persons on board that vessel,” he said during a press briefing yesterday.

“We now know that we are looking for 60. We would apprehend two thirds of that amount. We would’ve (seen) using the drone technology those persons deep in the (wooded) area and so we try to reacquire their locations this morning and so the balance, we are monitoring but we won’t leave until we extract those persons.”

Commodore King said that while the RBDF has been largely successful over the years in interceptions of migrant vessels, “one landing is too many”, adding that lessons have been learned from the incident.

“We have analysed the last incident. We’ve looked at the gaps from aircraft reconnaissance patrols, areas where our vessels patrols and lessons learnt,” Commodore King said. “And we realise we have to exercise great organisational agility.

We have to be as agile as those transnational criminal networks operate and we need to shift and reposition our surface and air assets appropriately based on what we see in the shift made by those criminal organisations.”

“The assumption (must be) that every vessel departing from Haiti is destined for The Bahamas and so we must remain resolved.”

This latest apprehension comes after the United States Coast Guard (USCG) intercepted a vessel with 396 Haitians on board near Cay Sal Bank over the weekend.

The intercepted migrants were turned over to the RBDF and later taken to Inagua for processing.

They are expected to be repatriated within a week’s time, according to immigration officials yesterday.

Their illegal travel to The Bahamas comes as civil unrest and political turmoil continues to mount in Haiti.

Local government officials have already warned that there could be an “explosion” in migrant arrivals not only from Haiti, but other neighbouring countries in the days ahead.

Just on Tuesday, 18 Cubans were found in waters near Cay Sal Bank by the USCG. They were turned over to the RBDF.

The same day, immigration officials on Cat Cay, Bimini took seven Cubans into custody.

When asked yesterday if he believed the RBDF had enough resources to deal with the influx, the RBDF chief said no country has all the resources it needs.

He said this is why it’s so important to develop regional partnerships to share intelligence and resources.

“At this moment, what we have is adequate but as we continue to decentralise, there is a strategic plan. We will have to recruit more,” he said.

“I’ve placed before the government a package to acquire additional safe boats. We’re in the procurement process to acquire a second roll on and roll off vessel, a 62-metre patrol craft.

“I’ve placed a package to acquire additional aircraft. There is an infrastructural upgrade package that we are completing now for the government to seek funding from public private partnership investments.

“But as we continue to build on, we will need additional manpower.”

Last year, the Department of Immigration repatriated over 4,000 migrants, which was said to be the largest number of repatriations in the country’s history.