The premier of the British Virgin Islands and the director of the Caribbean territory’s ports have been arrested Thursday on drug smuggling prices in South Florida, federal authorities stated.
Premier Andrew Alturo Fahie and Managing Director Oleanvine Maynard have been taken into custody by US Drug Enforcement Administration brokers at Miami-Opa-locka Executive Airport and charged with conspiracy to import cocaine and conspiracy to launder cash, in response to a prison grievance.
Maynard’s son, Kadeem Maynard, faces the identical adjustments within the alleged scheme, in response to the data.
“Anyone involved with bringing dangerous drugs into the United States will be held accountable, no matter their position,” DEA Administrator Anne Milgram stated in a press release. “Today is yet another example of DEA’s resolve to hold corrupt members of government responsible for using their positions of power to provide a safe haven for drug traffickers and money launderers in exchange for their own financial and political gain.”
Fahie and Oleanvine Maynard had been on the airport to fulfill Mexican drug traffickers, who in actuality have been undercover DEA brokers, to see a cargo of $700,000 in money that BVI officers anticipated to obtain for serving to smuggle cocaine from Colombia to Miami and New York, the grievance stated.
A DEA confidential supply had beforehand met with Maynard and her son after being launched by a gaggle of self-proclaimed Lebanese Hezbollah operatives, in response to the grievance. After Fahie turned concerned, it stated, the BVI officers agreed to let the smugglers convey the cocaine via the port at Tortola earlier than persevering with on to the US.
Governor Of The British Virgin Islands John Rankin launched a press release clarifying that Thursday’s arrests in Florida weren’t related to a Commission of Inquiry issued final 12 months within the territory. That investigation was meant to concentrate on governance and corruption, not a prison investigation into the unlawful drug commerce, Rankin stated in a press release posted on-line.
It isn’t recognized whether or not the fee had discovered any suspected wrongdoing by Fahie or Maynard, however Rankin stated he expects to have the outcomes revealed urgently to keep away from pointless hypothesis.
The British Virgin Islands, with a inhabitants about 35,000 individuals, is a British Overseas Territory within the Caribbean Sea, positioned east of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. The governor is appointed by the queen, the territory’s final govt authority, and acts on her behalf. The premier is the pinnacle of the federal government and is elected in a normal election together with the opposite members of the ruling authorities.
