Boasman: draft agreement about border control arrive late on Friday

PHILIPSBURG – “Before Friday we were asked to agree to something of which we did not know the details,” Justice Minister Rafael Boasman said at Wednesday’s Council of Ministers press briefing. Boasman said that he had received the draft mutual agreement about border control only last Friday after 5 p.m.

“On Sunday I discussed it with Chief Commissioner Carl John and Anthony Doran of the Customs Department. I did not foresee any problems.”

Boasman reiterated that border control has been a joint effort with the Royal Marechaussee from long before 10-10-10 and that the cooperation “is not in bad shape.”

Border control was on the agenda in July during a meeting of the four ministers of justice in the Kingdom. ‘It was never mentioned that there was something wrong,” he said.

Boasman furthermore noted that the Prime Minister ‘took a lot of heat” in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma. “a lot of it was unfair,” he said, adding that PM Marlin was the spokesman for the Council of Ministers during the crisis. Boasman took responsibility for blocking the border with the French side with containers.

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Photo caption: Five ministers were present at Wednesday’s press briefing. From left ministers Emmanuel, Jacobs, Marlin, Boasman and Gibson. Photo Hilbert Haar