A sensitive internal police document detailing a broad island-wide crackdown on illegal weapons, narcotics and fugitive suspects has been leaked to the public, triggering a probe into the source of the breach and raising urgent alarms that the disclosure has allowed targeted criminals to evade law enforcement action.
The leak centers on Operation Clean Sweep, a coordinated enforcement initiative launched by the Royal Bahamas Police Force across New Providence last week. Speaking on the fallout of the breach, Police Commissioner Shanta Knowles confirmed that the unauthorized release of the restricted operational order has severely undermined the operation’s core objectives, confirming that those behind the leak will face internal disciplinary charges once identified.
“That is exactly what our concern is,” Commissioner Knowles told reporters, when asked whether the leak had given suspects an opportunity to avoid police interdiction. “Because of the leak of that document, those who we are trying to put a control on, it gives them a leeway now to prevent our road checks, to prevent us from executing our duties. Should we uncover where or who leaked that document, they will be facing charges within our organisation.”
A 10-page copy of the original operational order, marked “Restricted” and obtained by The Tribune, outlines the full structure of Operation Clean Sweep, which deployed 114 officers to conduct road checks, targeted searches and patrols across New Providence between 7pm and 11pm on August 24 and 25. The document includes sensitive personal details for all participating officers, including their full names, ranks, force identification numbers, divisional assignments and assigned reporting locations, alongside a full breakdown of the operation’s command hierarchy and enforcement tactics. While it does not name the exact streets or intersections where checkpoints would be set up, the disclosure still provides critical insight into police operational patterns that criminals can exploit.
Dated August 19 and signed by Acting Commissioner of Police Kirkwood Andrews, the order placed Senior Assistant Commissioner Zhivago Dames in overall command of the initiative. Its official public objectives include disrupting ongoing criminal networks, blocking the movement of illegal firearms, ammunition and narcotics, and increasing visible police presence in high-risk communities across the island. Participating officers were instructed to carry out systematic road stops, search suspicious vehicles and pedestrians, execute outstanding arrest warrants, enforce existing traffic regulations, and conduct compliance checks at nightlife venues including nightclubs and restaurants to ensure adherence to the country’s Liquor Licences Act.
Commissioner Knowles emphasized that the leak has created unnecessary barriers to the work of honest, service-focused officers across the force. Her statement comes in the wake of a brutal wave of gun violence that struck New Providence between Friday and Sunday last weekend, which left three people dead and two others wounded in four separate shooting incidents across the island – all within a 48-hour window.
The first fatal shooting occurred shortly after 4pm Friday on Soldier Road, where a man in his early 50s was shot and killed. Less than 15 hours later, at around 7am Saturday, a second man in his early 50s was ambushed by three suspects in a silver SUV as he arrived at his home on Joe Farrington Road. Police reports confirm two of the suspects exited the vehicle and opened fire, chasing the victim into his home before shooting him multiple times and leaving him dead at the scene.
Just five hours after that attack, at around noon Saturday, a third man in his late 30s was shot and killed while carrying out landscaping work along Gladstone Road, north of Fire Trail Road. Investigators say a white Japanese-made vehicle pulled up near the victim, before a male suspect exited and opened fire. An 18-year-old woman has since been taken into custody as a person of interest in connection with this killing.
The violence did not end with the three deaths. Shortly before 7pm Sunday, two gunmen opened fire on a group of people gathered outside a residential property on Reeves Street in the Fox Hill neighborhood, leaving a 22-year-old man with a shoulder wound and a 31-year-old man with a leg wound. Both victims are receiving medical treatment for their injuries.
Despite the spike in fatal violence over the weekend, Commissioner Knowles noted that aggregate long-term crime statistics across New Providence do not indicate a broader, systemic increase in criminal activity. She outlined a series of operational adjustments the force has already implemented to boost public safety, including reassigning officers from non-frontline administrative roles to increase uniformed patrol presence on the streets. Police continue to prioritize targeting repeat and high-risk offenders, and maintain regular lawful road checks and stop-and-search operations to disrupt criminal movement.
She also confirmed that all police patrol vehicles operating overnight have been instructed to keep their headlights and emergency marker lights on while on patrol, so that community residents can clearly see visible law enforcement presence in their neighborhoods.
Addressing the long-standing challenge of stemming the flow of illegal firearms into the country, Commissioner Knowles acknowledged that The Bahamas’ extensive coastal geography makes interception efforts far more complicated, but stressed that this complexity does not reduce the responsibility of law enforcement agencies to stop weapons from entering national territory. She said specialized anti-gang and firearms units are working in close partnership with the Department of Customs and the Royal Bahamas Defence Force to intercept illegal weapons shipments before they arrive, and to trace and recover any illicit firearms that have already made their way onto streets.
She highlighted one major success from recent years to underline the progress of these efforts: “Last year, we had a major bust where we were able to stop a shipment of 25 weapons and, I think, just over 5000 rounds of ammunition.”
In closing, Commissioner Knowles made a public appeal for community members to share any information they have about planned illegal weapons shipments with law enforcement, to help intercept firearms before they end up in the hands of criminals – particularly criminal actors that target young people across the country.