Main INC Bahamas Page

The primary Bahamian recipients of U.S. anti-drug assistance are the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF), the Royal Bahamas Defense Force (RBDF), and the country’s judicial system. Among the security forces, the Drug Enforcement Unit (DEU) of the RBPF is the lead institution for drug law enforcement. As of early 1999, the DEU had an actual strength of 84 officers, including a counternarcotics strike force.¹ The DEU, which works closely with the U.S. Justice Department's Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), receives training and equipment through the State Department's International Narcotics Control (INC) program.² Other police units receiving U.S. assistance include the Canine Squad, the Internal Security Division, and the Corruption and Investigation Unit.³

The INC program supports a Joint Information Coordination Center (JICC), which keeps data on aircraft and vessels entering the Bahamas. “Continued support to the JICC,” notes the 2000 Congressional Presentation for the State Department’s Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, “will focus on improving its capability and usefulness to GCOB [Government of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas] counterdrug efforts.”⁴

INC and Defense Department funds support Operation Bahamas and Turks and Caicos (OPBAT), a long-running joint narcotics interdiction operation. The State Department describes OPBAT as “a combined effort by the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands police and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to intercept loads of cocaine and conduct investigations. OPBAT employs U.S. Coast Guard and Army helicopters assigned to joint interdiction bases in Nassau, George Town, Great Inaugua, and elsewhere.”⁵ U.S. helicopters participating in OPBAT carry out missions throughout the Bahamas and the Florida Straits. The INC program’s support for OPBAT includes "base operating costs such as electricity, equipment repair and maintenance, air conditioning, runway resurfacing, and other support costs."⁶

The INC program trains RBPF units to conduct sophisticated drug trafficking and money laundering investigations, and offers maritime interdiction training to the RBDF.⁷

Sources:

¹ U.S. Department of State, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, 1998, (Washington: Department of State: February 1999): <http://www.state.gov/www/global/narcotics_law/1998_narc_report/major/Bahamas.html>.

²United States, Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Department of State, International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, 1996, Washington, March 1997, October 1997 <http://www.state.gov/www/global/narcotics_law/1996_narc_report/index.html>.

³ United States, Department of State, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Fiscal Year 2000 Budget Congressional Presentation (Washington: Department of State: March 1999): 10. <http://www.state.gov/www/global/narcotics_law/fy2000_budget/latin_america.html>.

⁴Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Fiscal Year 2000 Budget Congressional Presentation 10.

⁵United States, Department of State, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, INL Country Programs - The Bahamas, Fact Sheet, April 20, 1999 <http://www.state.gov/www/global/narcotics_law/fs_bahamas.html>.

⁶United States, Department of State, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Fiscal Year 1999 Budget Congressional Presentation (Washington: Department of State: March 1998): 16.

⁷Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Fiscal Year 2000 Budget Congressional Presentation 10.