Superintendent Christopher Wright, Officer In Charge (OIC) of the Eleuthera District with the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) in a recent interview revealed that, “Things are heating up in terms of illegal landings particularly in South Eleuthera.” In response, there has been an increased focus on illegal immigration with the RBPF partnering with the Department of Immigration to target these landings.
“We know that there is an illegal immigration racket, and in the past few days, several people have been placed before the courts and charged with, “Assisting with Illegal landing”, said OIC Wright. He also confirmed that for the year to date, a total of eleven (11) people have been charged for assisting with illegal landing – nine (9) of whom are from South Eleuthera, and two (2) from Central Eleuthera. Included in these numbers are two Haitian nationals, who both pleaded guilty and have since been deported back to Haiti.
OIC Wright also sends a strong warning out to landlords who are currently renting to illegal immigrants knowingly, saying, “We will be aggressively dealing with these, with a view to prosecuting, as well as landlords who allow the building of shanty towns. We are asking landlords to request a copy of their tenants’ work permits, which they should copy and attach to the lease agreement and keep on file.
Superintendent Wright added, “In partnership with Immigration, we will conduct an operation called, ‘Break Down’, of all shanty towns. We are going to break them down.” He said that this operation would take place over the course of a two to three day period, and that the local Joint Force would have the assistance of officers from New Providence.
