Antigua and Barbuda’s Prime Minister Gaston Browne has publicly confirmed that domestic law enforcement agencies have documented a noticeable uptick in criminal activity linked to Jamaican citizens operating within the twin-island nation. The head of government made the disclosure during a Saturday appearance on his signature public program, the Browne and Browne Show, noting that security officials had privately raised the concern to him multiple weeks prior to his public announcement.
“In our country, we are observing a growing share of criminal activity that involves Jamaican individuals specifically,” Browne stated during the discussion. He cited a recent high-profile incident as a concrete example: the armed robbery at the Buckley Line Service Station, where one of the two suspects formally charged in the case is a Jamaican national.
In an effort to head off potential diplomatic tension and community backlash, Browne emphasized that the Antiguan and Barbudan government has no intention of targeting Jamaican residents as a group, nor is it adopting a broadly hostile stance toward any nationality based on the actions of a small subset of individuals.
“I do not want law-abiding Jamaicans who have built lives in our society to believe they are being singled out for scrutiny,” he explained. “But we have a responsibility to be honest with our population and be transparent about the security challenges we are facing.”
Browne added that Jamaican nationals who respect Antigua and Barbuda’s laws, alongside all other law-abiding Caribbean immigrants residing in the country, have nothing to fear from the government’s upcoming security crackdown. In fact, he framed the push to remove criminal elements from the country as a measure that will protect law-abiding immigrant communities just as much as it protects native citizens.
Closing his remarks, the prime minister issued a clear warning that all immigrants living in Antigua and Barbuda are required to comply with the nation’s legislation. He stressed that the country will not allow itself to become a safe haven for transnational criminals looking to escape prosecution in other territories.