CASTRIES, St. Lucia, CMC – A senior police officer has warned that criminal gangs in St. Lucia are thriving on trafficking in firearms, narcotics, and humans and that persons who visit adult entertainment venues could also be contributing to human trafficking.
“The challenge is before us to offset what is happening in St. Lucia. We must take a long look at human trafficking as used by the gangs to make the money to buy the guns to kill our people,” Deputy Police Commissioner Wayne Charles told the launch of a human trafficking campaign here.
He said for the past 20 years, the crime situation here has been very violent, with increased homicides being recorded annually.
Charley said that while criminal gangs were at the heart of violent crimes, the recent events in the southern town of Vieux Fort, where at least seven people were killed during a bloody weekend of gun violence, show how criminal gangs “have thrived with firearms trafficking, narcotics trafficking, and of course, human trafficking.
“So we are endeavoring to do certain things regarding the narcotics and the firearms…the gangs are involved in human trafficking. This is how they make their money. We need to develop and implement a regime that will counter what the gangs are doing on all fronts,’ Charley said.
The police said that on December 30, last year, the Major Crimes Unit executed search warrants at various locations, discovering four human trafficking victims. Charlery said the four foreign nationals, who have since migrated, were forced to perform at an adult entertainment establishment.
The police have since arrested and charged the establishment’s owner, and he was released by a court here on EC$100,000 (One EC dollar=US$0.37 cents) and will return to court on April 21.
“As a police force, I can tell you, in terms of investigations and so on, we are in the embryonic stages of human trafficking. So to date, this case would be one of the clearest cases we have had where you have victims, you have a perpetrator, you have gone to court, and it is human trafficking,” Charles said.
“St. Lucia, due to its unique geographical positioning between Martinique and South America, has become a transshipment point of choice for human, narcotics, and firearm traffickers,” he said, adding that “this simple case is one of many that we may have in St. Lucia.”
The Deputy Police Commissioner noted that there are many adult entertainment centers here, and “most of the persons there providing adult entertainment are very well being trafficked.
“So if you have visited any of these locations and have had a drink at this place, you may very well have contributed to human trafficking at the cost of a beer, which is seven dollars,” he added.
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