According to Ramlogan, there are now more than 100 gangs operating in Trinidad, a considerable increase on the 66 gangs said by the-then national security minister Martin Joseph to have been operating in 2005. However, this is still considerably less than the 286 gangs said to have been active in Jamaica at the beginning of 2010.
The Anti Gang Bill envisages jail terms of up to 25 years as well as severe financial consequences for gang members. Ramlogan said: “Gangs are into drugs, gunrunning, kidnapping, extortion, robbery, assault, rapes and all forms of criminal activities. The gang has become a centrepiece and a foundation of crime."
At the same time that Trinidad has been introducing its new anti-gang legislation, the governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB), Sir Dwight Venner, has warned that crime is doing significant harm to Caribbean economies. Venner told a meeting of the Association of Caribbean Commissioners of Police (ACCP) on 3 December that fighting crime in Jamaica cost 3.7% of GDP.
Venner warned that crime has “protruded into every facet of society", and he said it poses a significant challenge to the state system. Beyond that, however, Venner pointed to the economic consequences, saying: “The major problem arises because of the impact of crime...on an industry like tourism. Just two weeks ago cruise ships pulled out of St Kitts because of the robbery of a busload of tourists at one of the premier historical sites."
In mid-November, Jamaica told Washington that it intended to make legislative changes so that there would never be a repeat of the bloody events leading up to the June arrest of Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, requested on extradition by the US.
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