The Virgin Islands does not have a big domestic drug problem, according to U.S. Attorney James Hurd. What it does have is a big transshipment problem, he says, and the amount of illegal drugs passing through the area is going up.
Hurd, addressing the annual meeting of the League of Women Voters Saturday on St. Thomas, said it used to take a lot of skill to transport drugs. However, he said, with the advent of a little hand-held devise called a GPS — for "global positioning system" — drug traffickers can "drop" their cargo from the air within a few feet of a pre-targeted area. He also said a new type of "stealth" boat, named after the aircraft that cannot be detected by radar, is making it even more difficult for authorities to catch seaborne traffickers.
"You can never throw enough money at interdiction," Hurd said. But he believes that no matter how much is thrown, it won't solve the problem. The only solution to drug dealing is education and prevention, he said.
Hurd also discussed public corruption and violence in the community at the meeting.
