Gov’t denies landing rights to charter flights, imposes visa restrictions
ST VINCENT and the Grenadines has denied permission for two airlines operating charter flights from Nigeria, Dubai, and Morocco to land in the country.
Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, who is also Minister of National Security, said that Kingstown last Wednesday imposed visa restrictions on Bulgaria, Cameroon, Nepal, and Bangladesh amid national security concerns surrounding the flights.
They joined Nigerian passport holders, for whom visa requirements were in place before the development.
Speaking on a radio programme here on Sunday, Prime Minister Gonsalves said that his administration was concerned about the possibility that some of the passengers could be victims of human trafficking.
He said there were also concerns that the passengers on the flights, which were headed to Latin America, could be trying to enter the United States illegally.
Gonsalves said the flights were to be operated by two airlines, one of which was to originate in Nigeria, with 374 passengers “with not many Nigerians, while the other flight was to originate in Dubai, fly to Morocco and then to Argyle International Airport, on St Vincent’s east coast.
“And that one is to be operating with a charter company from out of Bulgaria and the bulk of the people were coming from Bangladesh, from Nepal, from Cameroon, a significant number of Indians, too, and people from Sri Lanka,” Prime Minister Gonsalves said, adding that the authorities here had the names of the individuals concerned.
Gonsalves said the list included 23 people who were denied permission to enter “two other Caribbean countries near to us in the past … .
“We have activated with this information the regional security agencies to which we belong, and all of this information which we possess would be sent to all our international partners involved in assisting us to maintain security, citizen security, and to help us to be consistent with our international obligations,” Gonsalves told radio listeners.