The circumstances surrounding last week's discovery of four burned bodies on the Cay Sal Bank, the farthest southwestern corner of The Bahamas, are still officially categorized as a mystery.
According to reports, the bodies of three men and one woman had been covered with car tires and set on fire in what police believe was an attempted cover-up.
"The bodies were badly burned. It appears as though the individuals used tires to try and disintegrate the bodies," Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) Lt. Commander Raymond King told reporters on Friday.
While we may never know much more about the grizzly incident than we do now, it is possible that human smuggling might be implicated at some stage of this sad tale.
Authorities say they believe the victims were Haitians, although they have not explained why.
Each year, thousands of men, women and children risk the peril-fraught sea voyage from Cap Haitien or Port-de-Paix in Northern Haiti, heading to The Bahamas in search of a better life. Many use this country as a transit point in their journey to the United States.
The unfortunate victims found on Anguilla Cay may have been passengers on a vessel that cast off from New Providence or Grand Bahama, but ended up badly off course on its way to South Florida. Or, the nearby north coast of Cuba might have been their point of departure.
Disagreements over transport fees, fears of a run-in with the United States Coast Guard and mid-sea emergencies are the usual explanations when human smuggling operations turn deadly.
This discovery comes as the government is seeking to borrow more than $230 million for new RBDF vessels to patrol and police our national waters. The decision has raised concerns in light of the country's already exorbitant national debt, which the government insists can only be brought under control by the controversial introduction of value-added tax (VAT).
Gowon Bowe, the co-chair of the Coalition for Responsible Taxation, said "There are certain strategic spends that should take place and there are expected to be benefits if they improve border control, they may be able to minimize the cost of reparations, the cost of public services provided to illegal immigrants and the ill effects and social [ills] that are caused by illegal immigration. But I don't see a clear vision from them on how... the savings will come back to the Bahamian people."
Investing in border control is vitally important, both in terms of curbing the expenses associated with a large and continually growing domestic population of illegal immigrants, and preventing graphic scenes taking place in Bahamas territory in the future.
However, as Bowe points out, neither outcome can be realized without a clear plan. The RBDF should get its boats, but its commanders and the officials who lead the Ministry of National Security should also be made to outline a clear, results-oriented strategy for their use, and be held accountable accordingly.
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