Are Drugs on Cruise Ships on the Rise?

Are Drugs on Cruise Ships on the Rise? - AOL Travel News: "A cruise passenger was arrested in St. Thomas last week after federal agents found a load of party drugs he was allegedly dealing from his cabin on a gay charter cruise on the 5,400-passenger Allure of the Seas. The bust on the world's largest ship was the latest in a series of recent high-profile incidents, begging the question, are illicit drugs on cruise ships increasing?

'What you might be looking at is an increase in passenger numbers,' Migdalia Travis, spokeswoman for the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) field office in Miami, told AOL Travel News. 'The amount of cruise passengers has increased and of course will account for an increase in contraband finds.'

Travis notes both Miami and Fort Lauderdale, the world's two largest cruise ports, have experienced a substantial increase in traffic, with more and bigger ships – Fort Lauderdale saw cruise traffic rise 17% in the last fiscal year to more than 3.3 million passengers."

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Caribbean News Now!: Alleged Jamaican drug kingpin to return to US federal court on April 4

Caribbean News Now!: Alleged Jamaican drug kingpin to return to US federal court on April 4: "Prosecutors and defence attorneys in the Christopher 'Dudus' Coke extradition case are to return to court on April 4, for another in the series of pre-trial conferences, and possible filing of motions in the matter.

United States Federal Judge Robert Patterson set the new date at a pre-trial hearing in a Manhattan district court on Wednesday to give both sides time to review discovery materials and file possible motions.

The Jamaica Observer reported that more discovery materials were also made available by prosecutors at Monday's hearing.

Coke, who has been in custody in New York since June after waiving his rights to an extradition hearing in Jamaica, faces allegations of drugs and weapons dealings.

The charges, if proven, could land the Jamaican in prison for 20 years to life."

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seized over $13 million worth of drugs — $8.4 million in pure cocaine and $4.85 million in marijuana — in the Arima and Barataria areas.

Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday : newsday.co.tt :: "POLICE made a major dent in the illegal narco trade when in two unrelated drug busts yesterday, they seized over $13 million worth of drugs — $8.4 million in pure cocaine and $4.85 million in marijuana — in the Arima and Barataria areas.

In the first raid, officers from Port-of-Spain CID and Task Force crashed a drug-smuggling air conditioning export business where air condition units were being filled with packets of pure cocaine and shipped to Jamaica.

Five persons, including a Jamaican national, 30; an Arima businessman, 44; a 28-year-old ramp attendant, employed with Caribbean Airlines who lives in El Dorado, an Arima man, 40, and a 25-year-old Arima woman, were arrested."

READ MORE - seized over $13 million worth of drugs — $8.4 million in pure cocaine and $4.85 million in marijuana — in the Arima and Barataria areas.

T&T police seize cocaine destined for Jamaica - News - Go-Jamaica

T&T police seize cocaine destined for Jamaica - News - Go-Jamaica: "The Trinidad and Tobago police are investigating the seizure of 21 kilogrammes of cocaine destined for Jamaica.

On Friday, the police say they arrested four persons including a well known drug lord, after cocaine worth more than US$1.3 million were seized during an operation in Arima, east of the country.

The police say they executed a search warrant at a house in Arima and discovered the drugs hidden in air condition equipment destined for Jamaica."

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The big society will struggle in Moss Side,Moss Side gained the title of "Baby Beirut" and Manchester was soon dubbed "Gunchester" by the mainstream media.

Moss Side gained the title of "Baby Beirut" and Manchester was soon dubbed "Gunchester" by the mainstream media.The big society will struggle in Moss Side | Belinda Webb | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk: "With councils up and down the country being forced to claw back on services through cuts imposed by the government, one of the areas that will be squeezed dry is youth services. This has troubled the Unite union so much that this weekend it held a Rally for Youth Services.

Inner-city youth groups are a lifeline for many urban communities. They save kids from having to create their own 'fun' on grim concrete estates, where boredom and frustration quickly turn to trouble. On the Moss Side estate in Manchester where I spent my teen years we had an old field and a pit. This pit usually contained a burnt-out car that had been 'borrowed' for a joyride, along with used syringes and anything else you care to imagine. However, in the past decade Moss Side has started to change thanks to a range of youth services, such as the Powerhouse Library. They have worked hard to overturn the decades of despondency that once blighted the area and which featured regularly in both national and regional press. It has meant a real result – the steady decline of crime."

READ MORE - The big society will struggle in Moss Side,Moss Side gained the title of "Baby Beirut" and Manchester was soon dubbed "Gunchester" by the mainstream media.

Barbados More time for ruthless tourist killer

More time for ruthless tourist killer - Crime - Canoe.ca: "The man who killed Ottawa tourist Terry Schwarzfeld with a plank of wood in Barbados two years ago has been given an extra five years behind bars by an appeals court in the Caribbean island.

The Barbados Advocate newspaper said Curtis Joel Foster, 25, had been facing a 10-year sentence, but the court tacked on the extra five because of the violent nature of the attack, which occurred in broad daylight as Schwarzfeld, 60, was walking with her daughter-in-law, Luana Cotsman, along the island's famous Long Beach on Feb. 8, 2009.

The Court of Appeal said the original sentence was 'unduly lenient and does not reflect the serious and violent nature of this case.'

The court also stated such crimes hurt the island's lucrative tourism market"

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Crime in the Caribbean: In the shadow of the gallows

Crime in the Caribbean: In the shadow of the gallows | The Economist: "“WE NEED the death penalty…that is the word of God,” said Benjamin Agard, a Pentecostal pastor, in his funeral sermon last month for Cecil Carrington, a retired police officer shot dead by bandits at the small hotel he owned on Trinidad’s windswept east coast. The funeral came a fortnight after Trinidad and Tobago’s prime minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, promised to remove legal obstacles to hanging, offering a parliamentary debate on February 18th.

Her stance is popular across the English-speaking Caribbean, where murder rates have soared since the 1990s. Her country suffered 472 killings last year—close to 5% of all deaths. In 1999 there were just 93. Almost everyone can name a friend or relative who has met a violent end. Last year’s murder rate, of 36 per 100,000 people, was seven times that in the United States and 30 times that of Britain. But it trailed Jamaica (53), Belize (42) and tiny St Kitts-Nevis (40).

Rulings from the London-based Privy Council, still the final court of appeal for most of the region, have made it much harder to use the noose. The most important was a judgment, in 1993, which held that execution cannot take place more than five years after sentencing. In practice, exhausting all routes for appeal usually takes much longer than that."

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Retrial for reggae star Buju Banton set to begin

 Retrial for reggae star Buju Banton set to begin: "Fresh off a Grammy win, Jamaican reggae star Buju Banton is set to stand trial again in federal court in Florida.
Jury selection will begin Monday in Tampa. Banton is accused of conspiring to buy cocaine from an undercover officer and faces up to life in prison.
The jury deadlocked in his first trial in September.
Banton's attorney, David Markus, says the singer is not guilty.
Banton was arrested in December 2009 and held in Tampa-area jails until November, when he was released on house arrest. He was allowed to perform a concert in Miami last month to raise money for his court-ordered security and other expenses.
His 2010 album 'Before the Dawn' won the Grammy award for best reggae album Sunday."

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DEA agent said Buju set up drug deal - JamaicaObserver.com

DEA agent said Buju set up drug deal - JamaicaObserver.com: "Entertainer Buju Banton's trial started this afternoon with DEA agent Dan McCaffrey on the stand. He testified to Banton's connection to the drug deal which resulted in the artiste's arrest on December 10, 2009.
According to McCaffrey, Banton was instrumental in setting up the drug deal which involved two other men — James Mack and Ian Thomas.
He said, however, that none of the money seized — $135,000 — belonged to Banton.
He also said Ike and Tyke, two men from Georgia, were buyers.
Earlier, while addressing jurors during the opening statement, David Markus, Banton’s attorney, listed 10 reasons why Banton was not guilty.
Among the 10 was that Buju did not get a dollar or anything from the deal; never spoke with James Mack nor heard of him before; that he never spoke with Ike and Tyke and never went to the warehouse on December 8, 2009 to see drugs.
Markus introduced Banton to the jurors, saying that he was not guilty. He said last night (Grammy night) was an important night for Banton, but this week will be important for the entertainer and his family.
He also constantly referred to the police informant as a con artist."

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