Not what I expected to see in Eleuthera !

[OldManMirage]

I hope this is not a sign of things to come...

https://ewnews.com/eleuthera-olice-i...-and-drug-bust

What the heck man !?!

[denverd0n]

No, it is a sign of things that have been. Drugs have been a problem throughout the Western Caribbean for a very long time. And nowadays, drugs and guns pretty much go together.

The good news is that, if you are neither buying drugs, nor dealing in them, then your odds of running afoul of the criminals who do are fairly small.

[GordMay]

Remember Norman’s Cay, Exuma?
Norman’s Cay was a drug smuggling hub for Medellin cartel kingpin Carlos Lehder, and associates, from 1978 through 1982.
At the height of Lehder’s power on Norman’s Cay, there were thousands of kilos of cocaine moving in and out of the island every day, with profit margins in the millions. Court papers stated that Lehder was earning between $250 – $300 million annually, when operations were at their peak.
In 1982, under pressure from US law enforcement, and despite years of turning a blind eye, the Bahamian government finally begin to crack down on the island's drug smuggling operations. In 1987, after Lehder was arrested, in Colombia, and extradited to the U.S., where he was tried and sentenced to life without parole, plus 135 years.

➥ https://youtu.be/WeHiR8uJsCM

➥ Norman's Cay Island

[denverd0n]

Oops! Just noticed that I said Western Caribbean. I meant Eastern Caribbean, but it's too late to edit the post.

(Of course, drugs are a problem in the Western Caribbean, too. Just not historically quite as much as in the Eastern.)

[Kettlewell]

When I first started going to the Bahamas back in the '80s drug smuggling was rampant, and so were the patrols by US and Bahamian military ships. It was not uncommon to be stopped and searched by the US Navy or Coast Guard within the Bahamas, and military helicopters would regularly sweep low down the Exumas chain. You would see go-fast boats painted flat black with five outboards on the back tied up in odd places, and cruisers knew not to shine a spotlight around when strange happenings were occuring in certain harbors at night. You tried to avoid anchoring in remote places by yourself. Today, as always, you need to worry about crime in Nassau and Freeport, and there is a State Department warning about it. https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2024/01...siting-nassau/

More on the Norman's Cay era:

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The illegal drug trade in The Bahamas involves trans-shipment of cocaine and marijuana through The Bahamas to the United States.

In 1982, a report entitled "The Bahamas: A Nation For Sale" by investigative television journalist Brian Ross was aired on NBC in the United States. The report claimed Lynden Pindling and his government accepted bribes from Colombian drug smugglers, particularly the notorious Carlos Lehder, co-founder of the Medellín Cartel, in exchange for allowing the smugglers to use the Bahamas as a transshipment point to smuggle Colombian cocaine into the US. Through murder and extortion, Lehder had gained complete control over the Norman's Cay in Exuma, which became the chief base for smuggling cocaine into the United States.

Lehder boasted to the Colombian media about his involvement in drug trafficking at Norman's Cay and about giving hundreds of thousands of dollars in payoffs to the ruling Progressive Liberal Party, but Pindling vigorously denied the accusations, and made a testy appearance on NBC to rebut them. However, the public outcry led to the creation in 1984 to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Drug Trafficking and Government Corruption in the Bahamas.

A review of Pindling's personal finances by the Commission found that he had spent eight times his reported total earnings from 1977 to 1984. According to the Inquiry: "The prime minister and Lady Pindling have received at least $57.3 million in cash. Explanations for some of these deposits were given... but could not be verified."

As a result of the Inquiry, five government ministers either resigned or were dismissed.