'Abbey' owners to be charged

Leighton Levy, Gleaner Writer

Local customs officials have decided that charges are to be brought against the operators of fishing vessel Abbey, which was detained more than two months ago.

Customs officials yesterday confirmed that a decision was made last Friday to charge the operator of the vessel, DYC Fishing, under the Proceeds of Crime Act and the Customs Act for facilitating the evasion of duties and taxes and using the vessel to smuggle 'un-customed' goods into the country.

"We are also going to seek to forfeit the boat and the lobster which was found on-board," a Customs official told The Gleaner.

The boat was seized in April and detained by the Customs Department under suspicion of illegally importing lobster into Jamaica.

At that time, the Customs Department issued a release stating that the Abbey, owned by DYC Fishing, was intercepted and detained in Port Antonio, Portland.

"The department has reasonable grounds to believe that the vessel and the more than 2,000 pounds of lobster found on-board originated from international waters and must be subjected to custom duties and taxes.

"Amid the owner's claim that the cargo was locally obtained, customs records have revealed that the Abbey had not entered Jamaica's territorial waters for a month prior to its April 1 arrival," the Customs Department said in its release.

Claims dismissed

But officials of the company told The Gleaner that they had records to prove that the vessel was in Jamaican waters and not in the Dominican Republic as alleged.

The officials provided The Gleaner with a letter they said was from the harbour master in the Dominican Republic dismissing claims that the vessel had been in a port in that country.

But that failed to satisfy the Customs Department.

"Further investigations were carried out by the Customs Department in collaboration with the Caribbean Customs Law Enforcement Council," the Customs official said.

It is not yet clear what action will be taken against the captain and four crew members who left the island shortly after the boat was seized.

Permission had been granted for the vessel to fish for lobster, using traps only, in the Pedro Bank, but custom officials were not convinced lobster found on-board were caught in Jamaican waters.