prime-minister-of-the-british-virgin-islands-appears-before-the-us-justice-for-drug-trafficking-and-money-laundering-crimes

The Prime Minister of the British Virgin Islands, Andrew A. Fahie, and the director of the Port Authority of the same archipelago, Oleanvine Maynard, appeared on Friday before a federal court in Miami, Florida, accused of conspiracy to traffic cocaine and money laundering.

The Prosecutor’s Office reported that Fahie and Maynard had their first appearance before Judge Jonathan Goodman, after being detained on Thursday at a South Florida airport by agents of the Control Administration Drug Administration (DEA). of Saint Thomas.

The US Attorney accuses the three to “accept to facilitate the safe passage through the ports of BVI (British Virgin Islands) of tons of Colombian cocaine destined for Miami ”.

In exchange, details the public ministry, the defendants “would earn millions that would be channeled through different companies and bank accounts to hide the origin of the money”.

According to the indictment, during March and April, Fahie, Maynard and their son Kadeem participated in a series of meetings with a alleged drug trafficker to broker the deal. “Fahie and Maynard would obtain the required licenses and protect the cocaine-filled ships while they were in BVI ports,” the affidavit indicates.

There was talk of carrying 3,000 kilograms of cocaine through a British Virgin Islands port as evidence, followed by another equal quantity once or twice a month for four months. Fahie and Maynard would get “a percentage of the cocaine sales,” that is, “millions of dollars,” he says.

Undercover agents

According to the accusation of 19 pages, from 16 October 2022 a DEA confidential source had several meetings with a group of self-proclaimed Lebanese agents of Hezbollah, who claimed to have links between South Florida and the Middle East.

These meetings were held on the island of Tortola and offered help so that the British territory of overseas became a temporary storage point for cocaine coming from Colombia and with final destination to the United States.

Fahie and Maynard were arrested yesterday at the Miami-Opa-locka Executive Airport by undercover federal agents.

Agents of the United States Department of Justice Agency dedicated to the fight against drug smuggling and consumption, in addition to money laundering of assets, posed as members of the Mexican Sinaloa cartel, detailed the newspaper.

This Friday the interim Prime Minister of the British Virgin Islands, Natalio Wheatley, requested that Fahie, whom he replaces, receive due process after his arrest in Miami under drug charges.

Fahie and Oleanvine Maynard have pre-trial detention hearings scheduled for next Wednesday, May 4, in a federal court in Miami.

gs (efe, ap, reuters)

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