Pubdate: Sun, 11 Mar 2001 Source: Chicago Tribune (IL) Copyright: 2001 Chicago Tribune Company Contact: 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611-4066 Feedback: http://www.chicagotribune.com/interact/letters/letted/ Website: http://www.chicagotribune.com/ Forum: http://www.chicagotribune.com/interact/boards/ Author: Tribune News Services LACK OF RESOURCES CITED IN FAILURE TO CUT DRUG FLOW CARIBBEAN - Caribbean authorities say they are hampered by limited resources as they try to stem the drug flow that accounts for an estimated one-third of United States-bound cocaine shipments. Jamaica, the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic and Haiti were named as major transshipment centers in a U.S. State Department report last week. Eastern islands--including St. Kitts and St. Lucia--were increasingly being used by traffickers, the report said. "We have tried hard to stop cocaine from entering or leaving," Jamaica National Police spokesman Sgt. Jubert Llewellyn said Friday. "Frankly, intelligence is where we have been hurt by a lack of resources." While the flow of cocaine through Haiti has decreased, Jamaica has become the region's leading transshipment point, the report said. The report also named the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico as the entry point into the United States for much of the Colombian cocaine moved around the Caribbean, mostly in speed boats or in commercial shipping containers. - --- MAP posted-by: GD