St. Maarten Private Eye

"Maintaining the law here is a farce"

(DAILY HERALD) "Maintaining the law here is a farce", says scientific investigation to be published soon. A report titled “Organised Crime and Maintaining the Law in St. Maarten” produced by Dutch Scientific Investigation and Documentation Centre WODC has painted an ugly picture of the overall crime situation in the island territory.

According to the report, there is no cooperation among the almost 30 different judicial services available, there is no sharing of information, no form of registration and information system has been set up, and cooperation with the French side also needs better structuring

Based on various international investigations, WODC concluded in the report that organised crime was present in St. Maarten and that the island played an emphatic role in drug smuggling from South America to North America and Europe, while human smuggling and money laundering also took place with great regularity.

The many casinos (13), jewellers and stores that sell electronic products in St. Maarten give the impression that the economy is being fuelled with “dirty money.” The casinos have been under suspicion of money laundering and dubious financing from New York and Turkish mafia because, according to the investigators, the island territory does not have enough visitors to justify the existence of all the casinos.

Read the full story in the Daily Herald

The report (in Dutch) can be downloaded from the WODC website

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