Following three seizures over the past year of the potentially deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl, law enforcement officers in Cayman are being trained in how to handle the drug and administering an antidote.
During a press briefing to release 2022 crime statistics on Friday, 14 April, Commissioner of Police Derek Byrne highlighted concerns over the use of the drug, and other opioids and hard drugs on island.
Specialists from the US Drug Enforcement Agency have visited Cayman to brief police and other agencies about the handling of fentanyl, he said.
“We need to acknowledge that drugs is a problem on the island,” the commissioner told reporters.
“I suppose, historically, we spoke about ganja. Now, our concerns we really need to shift to opioid abuse, and that includes cocaine and crack cocaine. Our colleagues in [Customs and Border Control] have done some phenomenal work in terms of recovering fentanyl imported by post.
“They have had three significant detections pretty recently, and I think you will all be aware of the synthetic drug fentanyl and its really, really significant dangers to the community and, indeed, to the law enforcement officers who are tasked to detect it.”
Byrne said there were “huge concerns” for the safety of officers handling this type of synthetic drug because of its chemical composition.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fentanyl is up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine.
In February this year, three people were arrested in connection with the seizure of 200 fentanyl tablets concealed in an incoming package at the Airport Post Office. And last year, Customs and Border Control made two seizures of a total of 288 fentanyl tablets.
Experts from the US DEA have met with the RCIPS, Customs and Border Control, Prison Service, Fire Service and the National Drug Council, among others, to help educate them on how to handle the drug.
“They shared their experience in the United States and Canada with us and the significant dangers,” the commissioner said.
He added, “There are big risks in terms of the safety equipment the officers need [when handling fentanyl.”
He said officers were being given access to the antidote and are being trained in its use.
The antidote is a medication called naloxone, which is provided under the brand name Narcan and which can reverse the effect of an opioid overdose.
“I stress the point that we are acutely aware of the dangers, and our staff are acutely aware of the dangers,” Byrne said.
Prescription drug abuse
Police say many of the robberies seen in Cayman are committed by drug users seeking cash.
And it’s not only illegal drugs that are a concern, the commissioner said, the abuse of prescription drugs also seems to be on the rise.
“Speaking to some of the people that we encounter in our custody, in the Detention Centre, and [in our] research, we’re finding that [abuse of] prescription drugs is an issue,” he said.
While he added that this is being seen among a relatively small number of people in the community, “the impact can be significant”.
Ganja
He said police had not shifted their focus from ganja, but that other drugs were coming to the fore.
“No longer is it purely the ganja that we’re concerned about. We’re concerned about a full range of drugs,” he said, adding that while in the past cocaine was considered a “white-collar drug”, that is not longer the case.
“It’s now permeated its way down, right across the social spectrum of our community. It’s something I am sure the [RCIPS] command team are really concerned about, and it does feed crime,” he said.
Arrests for consumption of ganja dropped in 2022, compared to the previous year. Eighteen people were arrested for consumption of the drug last year compared to 33 in 2021, and 46 in 2020.
However, arrests for possession of the drug did increase last year, from 76 in 2021 to 83 in 2022. Eighteen people were arrested for supplying ganja last year.
Throughout last year, 2,915 pounds of the drug was seized, with an estimated street value of $2.9 million. The single largest of those seizures involved 940 pounds of ganja.
A total of 123 pounds of cocaine was seized in 2022 – either recovered during operations or from beaches where it had washed up. Police said a “conservative” estimate of its street value was $1.1 million.
Coast Guard a deterrent for drug smuggling
The commissioner noted that there were fewer interdictions in local waters last year by the Cayman Islands Coast Guard of drug boats bringing in illegal drugs.
“We’ve had six less criminal interdictions in our territorial waters, and we believe that this has a lot to do with the acceleration of our Coast Guard patrols,” he said.
Byrne said he believes the presence and regular patrols of the Coast Guard, and ongoing collaboration with neighbouring law enforcement agencies, has led to fewer drug smugglers entering the local waters.
“We’re making our presence known,” he said.
He added, “Because we now have a structured Coast Guard, they’re out patrolling more and they are in a growth phase, they will be going out more. So they do provide a really significant deterrent for persons who previously thought that it was relatively easy to take ganja into the Cayman Islands,” he said.
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