Uzra Zeya, US Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights
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Earl Moxam reports
By Earl Moxam
The Biden administration is increasing its targeting of lottery scammers in Jamaica as part of what it sees as a multi-pronged approach to tackling the country's high crime rate, fuelled by the influx of illegal guns.
US Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights, Uzra Zeya, cited this in response to questions put to her on the issue on Tuesday by Radio Jamaica's Earl Moxam.
Jamaica and its American security counterparts have been jointly going after those involved in lottery scamming, mostly targeting elderly US citizens for more than a decade now.
But according to Under-Secretary Uzra Zeya, lottery scamming cannot be viewed in isolation.
"This is a criminal enterprise that is generating over a billion dollars in illicit revenue every year, that feeds the market, that feeds the demand for these weapons," she said.
Jamaica's security forces routinely seize more than 600 illegal guns every year, and the US Under-Secretary of State readily conceded that these are mostly of US origin.
She acknowledged it will take a multi-lateral approach to effectively tackle the problem, and is optimistic that, on the American side, progress is now possible via the Safer Communities Act which has "dramatically increased the penalties for criminal actors who are trafficking illicit arms in this region".
"It also had new measures to criminalise ghost guns as well as straw purchases," she said, explaining the latter to be when an illicit buyer, under false pretences, buys weapons for criminal actors who would not have access.
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