Jamaican security forces will need to acquire a second surveillance aircraft to combat illegal trade between networks of animal thieves in Jamaica and criminal networks in Haiti, where they exchange meat from their thievery against firearms and Contraband cigarettes, revealed the Minister of National Security Horace Chang at a gathering of members of the Lions Club of Kingston during its luncheon at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston.
With regard to border security he emphasized "We received a maritime patrol aircraft last year, but we really need two to give us 24-hour service [...] However, the cost of procuring another state-of-the-art plane to bolster monitoring of the coastline is prohibitive, rounding out at about J$4 billion or almost 5% of the 2018-2019 national security budget."
He explained that this new traffic, complicates the fight for several years against the drug trade against firearms, existing between the two countries, due to the upsurge of crime in Jamaica for more than 10 years and to the increase of cattle theft estimated to be worth nearly US $40 million for farmers, noting, "Praedial larceny is something every rural Jamaican is afraid of today. It has become part of organised crime activity [...] In Clarendon, people are being killed, and their goats, cattle and even donkeys are stolen..."
