These smuggling and human trafficking activities between the neighbouring US Virgin Islands and the BVI have been linked to the recent clusters of COVID-19 cases in the territory.

“This is one of the occasions where we cannot blame the expats for nothing. Not on this. Not in this particular component,” Skelton Cline said during his Honestly Speaking radio programme on Tuesday.

He continued: “I want to call a gangster summit with all the Virgin Islands gangsters. We need to have a summit. We need to have a sit-down behind closed doors, nobody gotta know who everybody is. We need to ask the people with the ‘street cred’ to have the other street cred man to stand down. You all gotta stand down on this thing! You all going to get everybody killed. And those who ain’t get killed, you are going to get the UK to walk up in here. That’s what you want?”

Skelton Cline said while there have been calls by government ministers for perpetrators to put a halt to the practice, he is going a bit further.

He said he believes it is necessary to involve “people in the street who have influence” to advocate for the halt.

“Tell those men, ‘meh son, ayo need to go sit down with this thing for a minute’. Let this thing rest for the rest of the year. We know money gotta be made but we can’t make it this way because everybody go end up dead. This is a small little place you can’t be out there behaving like this!”

Mothers do your part!

Skelton Cline also called on mothers to play their part in stamping out the illicit activity.

He said some mothers are well aware their sons are involved in smuggling.

“You gotta call your son in. Say, ‘now listen, son … if you know you involved in this I need you to go sit down for your mother’s sake, for your sisters them sake, relax for a minute, stand down on this thing. Stay off the water. I don’t want to go Balsam Ghut, and I don’t want to have to go Johnson Ghut,” he stated.