THE Marine Police, in an aggressive drive to clamp down on criminals using the high seas to commit deadly crimes, has seized a total of 44 vessels in a series of operations across the island since the start of this year.

Assistant Superintendent of Police Adrian Hamilton said that the vessels, several of which are high-powered engine boats used by criminals to transport drugs and guns in and around Jamaica’s waters, were confiscated in a series of raids.

“These were all confiscated in the first seven months of the year,” Hamilton told the Jamaica Observer.

Commanding Officer for the Marine Division, Superintendent Terrence Sancko said that in addition to the seizures, police have confiscated several thousand pounds of marijuana, which have surpassed those made last year.

“In terms of marijuana a total of 5,908 pounds were seized for the year,” Hamilton said.

Last year, the Marine Police seized 5,713 pounds of marijuana.

“For 2013 we made a 10 per cent increase in terms of our arrests, marine patrol and in other areas,” said Hamilton.

Data shows that for 2012, the Marine Police exceeded its target of patrols. It originally planned to carry out 6,338 patrols, but a total of 6,738 patrols were realised.

The Marine Police said that a total of 440 arrests have been made by the team in collaboration with other units.

“The arrests were made for various offences, several of them involved operations in drug trafficking and other serious crimes,” Sancko said.

Police said that the number of arrests have surpassed those made in the corresponding period last year.

“We had 672 arrests for the entire 2012,” Sancko said.

He made the revelation during an interview with the Sunday Observer at the Marine Police headquarters last week.

The arrest of five persons in Portland two weeks ago, following the seizure of 18 illegal guns, more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition and a large quantity of drugs, have been included in the statistics.

The items seized were:

* 10 pistols

* 5 revolvers

* 2 shotguns

* 1 intra-tech sub-machine gun

* 1,279 assorted rounds of ammunition.

The Marine Police said that those arrested were still in custody and were being questioned.

The police said that following the arrest they have intensified their operations to clamp down on more criminals across the island.

So far this year 32.75 acres of ganja fields have been destroyed during 421 raids, and 121 special operations were carried out by the team and other divisions.