Prime Minister Andrew Alturo Fahie and Managing Director Oleanvine Maynard were detained by DEA agents at Miami-Opa-locka Executive Airport and charged with conspiracy to import cocaine and money laundering, according to a criminal complaint. Maynard’s son, Kadeem Maynard, faces the same charges, records show.
“Anyone implicated in bringing harmful drugs into the United States will be held accountable, regardless of their position,” DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said in a statement.
“Today is yet another example of the DEA’s determination to hold accountable corrupt members of government who use their positions of power to harbor drug traffickers and money launderers for their own financial and political interests. ”.
Fahie and Oleanvine Maynard were at the airport to meet with suspected Mexican drug traffickers — who were actually undercover DEA agents — to see a shipment of $700,000 in cash that British Virgin Islands officials were hoping to receive to help smuggle cocaine from Colombia to Miami and New York, authorities said in the complaint.
A confidential DEA source had previously met with Maynard and his son after being introduced by a self-proclaimed group of Lebanese Hezbollah operatives, according to the complaint. After Fahie became involved, Caribbean officials agreed to allow the traffickers to pass the cocaine through the port in Tortola before continuing on to the United States.
British Virgin Islands Governor John Rankin issued a statement clarifying that Thursday’s arrests in Florida were not related to an investigation in the territory last year. That investigation focused on governance and corruption, not a criminal investigation into illegal drug trafficking, Rankin said in a statement posted online.
It is not known if the commission found any suspected infractions by Fahie or Maynard, but Rankin said he hopes the results will be released soon to avoid unnecessary speculation.
British Virgin Islands, with a population of about 35,000 inhabitants, is a British territory located in the Caribbean Sea, east of Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands. The governor is appointed by the queen, the highest executive authority of the territory, and acts on her behalf. The prime minister is the head of the government and is elected in general elections along with the other members of the government.
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