CONCERNS GROW OVER HAITIAN DRUG SMUGGLING

Haitians are using The Bahamas as a transit point to traffic narcotics
into the United States because they know they can't enter the northern
nation on wooden sloops, according to U.S Ambassador to the Bahamas
John Rood.

Mr. Rood said Haitians are loading their sloops with drugs, traveling
to The Bahamas and then switching vessels in order to gain access into
America.

Ambassador Rood's comments came one week after Bahamian authorities
seized drugs from aboard two Haitian sloops off Nassau.

Nearly 200 pounds of cocaine and marijuana were discovered during the
drug bust, according to police.

Nine migrants were arrested.

"Haiti is a problem from a drug trafficking standpoint," Mr. Rood
said.

"There are numerous planes being observed flying between Venezuela and
Haiti. The drugs get into Haiti and we don't have good intelligence of
where they go. Haiti is very lawless and as you know there have been
Haitian sloops that have been found with drugs on them coming into The
Bahamas.

"Those sloops they could perhaps in some cases take the drugs to The
Bahamas, but they don't take them to the United States because we
don't allow wooden commercial vessels into the United States. So those
drugs are then taken off the sloops and another means is used to
transport those drugs to the United States."

Ambassador Rood also commended The Bahamas government for pushing for
stability in Haiti and assisting the Western Hemisphere's poorest
country in that regard.

"That's why we are so pleased the deputy prime minister, the foreign
minister and prime minister have all taken great interest in doing
what they can to support Haiti and create a climate where the rule of
law prevails instead of the lawlessness that is evident in many parts
of Haiti," he said.

The United States continues to partner with The Bahamas in joint
operations to address the flow of illegal drugs and migrants.