By JASMIN BONIMY, Guardian Staff Reporter, jasmin@nasguard.com

Nearly 16,000 illegal Haitian immigrants have been captured in Bahamian waters over the past eight years, it has been revealed.

According to Defence Force statistics, released exclusively to The Nassau Guardian, 15,432 illegal Haitian immigrants have been apprehended since January 1, 2000 as they attempted to flee their poverty-stricken homeland. The statistics also revealed that Haitian nationals make up more then 90 percent of illegal immigrants that attempt to enter The Bahamas.

The figures further revealed that the year 2002 saw the capture of 3,690 illegals - making it the highest number of apprehensions in a given year in nearly a decade.

The following year had the second highest number of captures, as 3,082 Haitian immigrants were taken into custody by Defence Force officers who were patrolling local waters.

But the apparent number of illegal Haitian immigrants traveling through Bahamian waters has slowed down significantly in recent years.

In 2007, only 1,364 illegals were caught by the Defence Force. But the year with the lowest captures to date was 2006 with 1,095.

A source inside the Immigration Department told The Guardian that the recent decrease in illegal Haitians being apprehended can be attributed to the migrants finding more "clever ways to evade capture." The source added that recently, officials have discovered that locals are helping to smuggle immigrants for a large fee.

"They're [the immigrants] are not on those large wooden vessels anymore," admitted the source. "Now they travel on these regular-looking boats so they're not detected as easily."

In the past few months, alleged cases of immigrant smuggling in the country have captured international headlines.

Most recently, the U.S. Attorney's Office and other American law enforcement agency partners have announced the arrest of, and the unsealing of an indictment charging defendant Zhivargo McBride in connection with a deadly smuggling operation officials said originated in The Bahamas.

As alleged in the indictment, McBride was the captain of a boat carrying eight illegal aliens attempting to reach the United States from The Bahamas.

As the vessel approached the beach in Broward County, McBride ordered the aliens to jump off and into the deep, rough ocean, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Ultimately, one alien was seriously injured when he was struck by the boat's propeller. Three others drowned while attempting to reach shore. On November 5, 2005, the bodies of three women, believed to be two Haitians and one Jamaican, washed ashore on a South Florida beach.

Meanwhile, the statistics have revealed that 685 illegal Haitian immigrants have been caught by the Defence Force between January and June of this year.

In late June, then State Minister for Immigration Elma Campbell had announced that almost 7,000 illegal immigrants of various nationalities were repatriated to their homelands by the Bahamian government at a cost of $1.4 million in the year 2007.

Campbell reported in the Senate that of 6,993 repatriations, 6,003 were Haitians. She also said that so far for the year 4,000 people have been repatriated at a cost of $1.2 million.