The Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) is beefing up its capability to make a major dent in the Caribbean narco-trafficking trade and is doing so with the assistance of its regional counterparts.

To this extent, the JDF Maritime, Air, and Cyber Command (MACC) kicked off the new year conducting a maritime training exercise in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Jamaica together with the Dominican Armed Forces and the Royal Bahamas Defence Force.

The regional armed forces carried out ‘Exercise Event Horizon’, from January 10-21, which also had the attendance of the Global Maritime Crime Programme of the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime, which sought to strengthen operational readiness, operational coordination, and interoperability among participants.

Participating troops built up capabilities such as intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance; countering illicit trafficking; humanitarian assistance and disaster relief; maritime law enforcement; search and rescue; expeditionary logistics; and international force projection through the use of maritime and aerial assets, in combination with intelligence and special operations support.

“These [exercises] are key to achieving results at all levels and to increasing operational proficiency,” the Dominican Navy said in a statement. The month of January marked the fourth anniversary of the activation of the JDF’s MACC, which continues to deliver results on its mission to curb transnational and organised crime and to counter terrorism and emergent cyber threats.

MACC-assisted operations

On January 14, for instance, the MACC collaborated with a wide-ranging multi-agency team to intercept a shipment of 1,500 kilograms of cocaine at Kingston’s port — one of the largest seizures in the country’s history. On December 26, the MACC recorded yet another narcotics haul, seizing nearly 500 kg of cocaine during an operation off Jamaica’s southeast coast.

Several aircraft and maritime components from the JDF Air Wing and the JDF Coast Guard contributed to the interception and later boarding of a vessel that was believed to have departed Colombia with a crew of three Jamaican men, who were later arrested, the JDF said. Months prior, in September, MACC teams, with support from U.S. authorities, discovered some 500 kg of cocaine at the Ian Fleming International Airport that were seemingly bound for Canada.

MACC Commander, Brigadier Roderick Williams says Jamaica has seen an uptick in the illicit trafficking of cocaine over the last year. According to him, “Jamaica’s geo-strategic realities continue to make us an attractive steppingstone for illicit flows originating in the south and destined for lucrative markets in the north.”

While recent seizures might suggest that South American narco-trafficking organizations have ramped up their transhipment activities in the region, Brig. Williams was quick to point out that the MACC has also strengthened its capabilities to deter, detect, and interdict illicit flows.

He noted that, “in addition to acquiring additional equipment and resources, there are also a number of other significant initiatives and capability enhancements on the horizon that will make illicit flows through Jamaica increasingly unattractive to smugglers.”

Exercise Event Horizon was one such initiative, positing that, “Exercise Event Horizon was highly successful” having met all set objectives and targets.

In conclusion, the JDF army man explains, “we intend to build on this success with the expansion of the exercise to include more of our domestic and regional partners for the next serial in January 2024. Together, these combined, joint, and interagency exercises will help to nurture and strengthen the necessary comprehensive, integrated, and multilateral approaches needed to address common transnational threats such as narco-trafficking and other safety and security threats facing our country.”