MIAMI (Florida, US), April 29 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The premier of the British Virgin Islands and the director of the Caribbean territory’s ports were arrested Thursday on drug smuggling charges in South Florida, federal authorities said.
Premier Andrew Alturo Fahie and Managing Director Oleanvine Maynard were taken into custody by U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents at Miami-Opa-locka Executive Airport and charged with conspiracy to import cocaine and conspiracy to launder money, according to a criminal complaint.
Maynard’s son, Kadeem Maynard, faces the same changes in the alleged scheme, according to the records.
“Anyone involved with bringing dangerous drugs into the United States will be held accountable, no matter their position,” DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said in a statement. “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 at the airport to meet Mexican drug traffickers, who in reality were undercover DEA agents, to see a shipment of $700,000 in cash that BVI officials expected to receive for helping smuggle cocaine from Colombia to Miami and New York, the complaint said.
A DEA confidential source had previously met with Maynard and her son after being introduced by a group of self-proclaimed Lebanese Hezbollah operatives, according to the complaint. After Fahie became involved, it said, the BVI officials agreed to to let the smugglers bring the cocaine through the port at Tortola before continuing on to the U.S.
The British Virgin Islands, with a population about 35,000 people, is a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean Sea, located east of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The governor is appointed by the queen, the territory’s ultimate executive authority, and acts on her behalf. The premier is the head of the government and is elected in a general election along with the other members of the ruling government.
The arrest of Fahie was first disclosed by British Virgin Islands Governor John Rankin.
“I realise this will be shocking news for people in the Territory,” Rankin said in a statement. “And I would call for calm at this time.”
The DEA’s complaint shows that the investigation, based on observations and recordings from the confidential informant, started in October.
According to the complaint, the informant claimed in meetings with Fahie, BVI ports Managing Director Oleanvine Maynard and her son, Kadeem Maynard, to be a cartel member looking to move thousands of kilograms of Colombian cocaine through Tortola island and eventually to Puerto Rico for export to New York and Miami.
“Fahie agreed to allow the confidential source to use the ports to ship his cocaine,” according to the complaint, adding that he requested a $500,000 upfront payment in return.
The British Virgin Islands premier also requested help in paying down an $83,000 debt to a man in Senegal who had “fixed” some political issues for him, the complaint said.
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement she was “appalled” by the allegations.
Fahie’s arrest, she said, demonstrated the importance of a recently concluded Commission of Inquiry into allegations of corruption and abuse of office on the islands. The commission’s report has not yet been published.
Deputy Premier Natalio “Sowande” Wheatley will remain acting premier indefinitely. — NNN-AGENCIES
