NCSA warns over export of drug precursors

The continued shipment of precursor drugs from Barbados by criminal enterprises poses a serious threat to national security, the deputy manager of the National Council on Substance Abuse has warned.

NCSA deputy manager Troy Wickham made the disclosure on Friday during brief remarks at the closing ceremony for the Regional Security System (RSS) Drug/Gang and Transnational Organised Crime Investigations training course, held at the RSS Training Institute in Paragon, Christ Church.

He said: “Precursor chemicals are posing serious challenges for the hemisphere. For us in Barbados, we are the same persons trying to export codeine linctus, a precursor chemical for methamphetamine, which is basically controlled in North America.”

He noted, however, that the substance could still be purchased easily in Barbados.

“You can go to any petrol station, service station in Barbados, any supermarket and buy a bottle off the shelf,” he said.

Wickham said he had been in discussions with the Barbados Drug Service, which had taken steps to remove the substance from shelves.

Wickham also warned that the wider drugs and firearms landscape was evolving, requiring law enforcement and other agencies to continually adapt.

“Drugs and the firearm landscape is no longer one that can be addressed through traditional means alone. Criminal networks are becoming more sophisticated. Trafficking routes are changing, new substances are emerging, firearms continue to be used to facilitate violence, intimidation, and other criminal activities.”

He said authorities were also seeing an increase in new and unfamiliar substances, some of which were not yet covered by legislation.

“The drug environment is constantly changing. Alongside that we are now seeing what we call new emerging substances and for agencies like mine, we call them new psychoactive substances, some that are very unfamiliar to law enforcement, and some of them are not legislated, but they’re dangerous to public health.”

He urged investigators to strengthen their ability to recognise these substances, “understand their characteristics, identify emerging trends, and properly document information can make a significant difference in investigations”. 

Wickham stressed that appearance alone was not enough to identify a substance, noting that “proper identification, evidence handling, forensic analysis and documentation are critical to ensuring that the investigation can withstand scrutiny”. 

(SB)