Sixty-four Haitian migrants were apprehended in the southern Bahamas during a joint exercise by the Royal Bahamas Defence Force and the Department of Immigration.

Shortly after 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, a Haitian sloop arrived offshore at Ragged Island.

Defence Force and immigration officials along with community members engaged in a joint exercise to take into custody the migrants, who were quickly located on the sparsely populated island.

The undocumented migrants included 40 men, 10 women, and 14 children. The migrants were transported to the capital by a defence force patrol craft for further processing by immigration officials.

This latest group of Haitian nationals is the second apprehension within the past two weeks.

On July 3, a total of 69 Haitian migrants were apprehended on the Great Bahama Bank by Her Majesty’s Bahamian Ship Lignum Vitae.