ST GEORGE'S, Grenada– The Tillman Thomas government says it is convinced "undesirables" are in possession of Grenadian passports and it is seeking to recover them as part of a campaign to have Canada lift visa restrictions imposed on nationals of this Caribbean Community (CARICOM) state.

Prime Minister Thomas made the announcement upon his return from a recent trip to North America.

"I believe that we are going to have to do some cleaning up for ourselves with the passport, but basically the problem I believe is that there are certain persons with our passport who are questionable. But if we can really clean-up our act then the possibility exists that our status (with Canada) could be restored," Thomas told a news conference.

"That is why we have to investigate. There may be persons out there who are undesirables but they are holding Grenadian passports," he said, while suggesting that it was such a situation that forced the Canadian government to take action.

Ottawa imposed the restrictions in 2001, amid concerns by United States and Canadian officials over the island's economic citizenship programme.

More than 840 passports at an individual cost of EC$60 000(US422 470) weresold under the programme introduced in the late l990s.

Grenada and Dominica are the only two Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States countries slapped with travel restrictions to Canada, which cited their economic citizenship programmes as posing criminal, security and border integrity concerns.

Earlier this year, Thomas – at the time Opposition Leader – raised the matter with David Marshall, the Barbados-based Canadian High Commissioner to the Eastern Caribbean.

The Grenadian leader also discussed the problem with Canada's Deputy Foreign Minister, Leonard Edwards, during his recent North American trip. (CMC)