UPDATE: Police release names of 5 persons charged in recent drug busts
According to a press release just in from the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force (RVIPF), the captain Adrian Arthur of Barbados and crew members Ralph James of Antigua and Glenroy Pierre of St. Vincent residing in Trinidad who were onboard the yacht Graerest as well as captain Nigel Registe, a native of Dominica residing in St. Thomas and crew member Kevin Greaves of St. Thomas, who were onboard a 18-foot go-fast boat, were all charged with illegal entry.
It was further revealed that other charges are likely to be laid as Police continue their investigations.
Officers of the Special Investigations Unit and the Marine Branch led an operation on Thursday afternoon that resulted in the seizure of both vessels and the arrest of the five men aboard.
Around 12:30 P.M. on the said afternoon, the team assisted by officers of HMS Customs stopped the yacht near Anegada with three men onboard and a search of the vessel uncovered over 560 kilos of cannabis with a street value of over $5,600,000, the press release stated.
The second vessel, a go-fast boat, was stopped on the northern side of Tortola around 4:15 P.M. the same day with two men who are residents of USVI onboard. A search of that vessel reportedly uncovered six kilograms of cocaine.
The men remain in custody as investigations continue while both boats are being held at the Police Marine Base.
There was no indication as to when the men would be placed before the court to answer the charges.
According to a a previous press release from the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force (RVIPF), Ag. Deputy Commissioner Alwin James reiterated the commitment of his officers and his relief that neither the vessels nor their contents made it onshore.
“Unfortunately, there are still individuals out there who will continue to attempt to use our waters to carry on their illegal drug trade. However, I am happy that our officers are unrelenting in their pursuit of these persons and I applaud their commitment and dedication to prevent these drugs from getting to our streets,” he said.
Virgin Islands News Online was on the scene at the Police Marine Base at Road Reef where the seized drugs were being offloaded from one of the vessels.
The bust brings back memories of the May 18, 2012 drug bust at Baugher's Bay when Intelligence from the United States Virgin Islands (USVI) law enforcement helped Virgin Islands Police and Customs officers to uncover some 2.52 kilogrammes of cannabis at the Baugher’s Bay dock, and the arrest of Khoy Frett, Wilbert Donovan, Suruj Persaud and Gavin Richards.
During the search of over 50 packages, law enforcement officers allegedly found the illegal substance in two white buckets in a brown box. When arrested and cautioned, the four men made no reply but during an audio-cautioned interview, Frett allegedly stated that the box was one of five that was placed "last minute" on the boat in St. John.
Meanwhile, the other accused men stated that they had no idea what was in the box. A minor was also on the vessel.
The street value for the cannabis was $20,520.
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62 Responses to “UPDATE: Police release names of 5 persons charged in recent drug busts”
act like ya'll know what goin on in the bvi. after they do what they got to do at the marine base they will then take it to the headquarters... chain of custody and every department have to cover their a$$.
What people don't seem to understand about about drugs (which so many of you claim are not harmful) is that along with it comes all the violence, gun play, shootings and murders associated with it. Drugs are a terrible, terrible thing and many a life has been destroyed by both use of the drugs or being involved in the drug trade. Nearly half of the prison populations in the world are filled with people involved in the drug trade. Most carry guns and many think nothing of taking a life.
The rest of us are hoping for a very, very, very loooong drought, so I hope you get used to it!
Good work RVIPF! Keep the pressure on these scumbags and throw every last one of them in jail!
I don't agree with drug use either but it makes me sick when I hear people say 'drugs are bad, they destroy lives, they make people carry guns and go to prison."
Use some sense. Yes, drugs destroy lives. Drugs like alcohol and cigarrettes and valium etc, too. All the mind-altering substances screw people up when used irresponsibly, and all to different degrees.
So that's one thing.
The fact that so many people in prison are in there for drugs is a simple signal that the 'war on drugs' is not working. It is in fact more of a 'war on black people' or a 'war on the poor' because drugs policies have had the effect of putting so many of these people in prison but consistently failed to actually reduce illegal narcotic use.
Meanwhile, alcohol and cigarettes kill millions and destroy families every year.
Guns? Don't be soft. Anything that people want and your govt. makes illegal will lead to illicit trade, which leads to lawlessness requiring heavy defense against competitors. When alcohol was illegal in the US c. 1920s - guns were everywhere associated with liquor smugglers.
Point is, this mindless nonsense talk that the drugs themselves are the source of wickedness doesn't stand up, unless of course you want to go and arrest the owners of TICO or RoadTown Wholesale who import the alcohol and cigarettes into our island!
The BVI - or more importantly the UK and the USA - need to reconsider our approach to these drugs. Decriminalization would take away the majority of our crime, one time.
If you want to consider the topic carefully ~ for even brief moment, the legalization of drugs such as heroine, ecstasy, crack cocaine, cocaine, Meth, LSD, PCP, Hashish, Marijuana, etc. is preposterous!
The movement to eradicate the use of cigarettes is growing exponentially and I believe cigarettes will become illegal within the next 15 to 20 years ~ if not sooner. Alcohol is a drug and yes, it can be very destructive if abused. It can also be completely harmless if people know their limits and stick to it. Many sadly don't. Hence we have laws to punish those fools who overdo it.
Pointing at the legal use of alcohol and cigarettes as a reason to legalize drugs is about the lamest thing I have ever heard!
There are degrees to which drugs are harmful. Heroine, crack, cocaine and methamphetamine are certainly amongst the worst. Or are you suggesting that we only legalize marijuana and hashish? If so, how on Earth will that "take away the majority of our crime one time"? Don't you think the thugs out there will continue to make all the other drugs and preying on the weak? What world are YOU living in?
They will keep making this crap and they will keep shipping it and WE will keep on catching them and throwing their nasty, criminal rear ends in jail!
It's so simple for you, isn't it? "Pointing to the legal use of alcohol and cigarettes" shows up the foolishness of your argument
Cigarettes will not be 'illegal' in a few years, they will be so unpopular that the industry will die out due to lack of demand. That's because instead of criminalizing cigarettes the govt has used a more sensible approach of educating people while at the same time restricting locations they can be smoked, and in most countries (not BVI) put such high taxes on them they're too expensive. So now smoking has become socially unacceptable.
This is sensible and successful policy making. Unlike the brain-dead criminalization approach to narcotics, which – I'm sorry, I didn't see you address this issue at all – HAS NOT WORKED at all to reduce demand or use of narcotics. It's really only worked for the prison industry, which is thriving.
Alcohol is treated as a social problem when it becomes one, not an evil liquid drunk by evil people who buy it off evil people. Yes, drunk driving is one law that criminalizes misuse, but what other laws are there? Are battery, grevious bodily harm, domestic violence against women, rape, child abuse all treated separately by the courts if alcohol is involved? No. They just occur more often because alcohol is legal.
With narcotics, you seem to think criminalization is the only way - indeed you seem to be celebrating it. True, meth and crack and those things will need some serious attention if the laws are to change but don't forget, those drugs only exist because criminals have been in charge of the drug trade since the 1950s. They invented crack and meth and stuff. What we need to do is treat people with these addictions, and like cigarettes, be smart enough to phase them out so they're not socially acceptable any more.
And yes, by being smart like this we will cut crime dramatically, not keep up the crazy yee-ha! attitude that people like you seem to be promoting - which is really just an endless pursuit of 'evil bad guys' - with no solution in sight.
The Vincentian Two men who were charged in connection with a cocaine seizure on the Morne Ronde Beach, July 11, 2011, were cleared of those charges last Tuesday, November 1, at the Serious Offences Court. Dominican national Jones Telemaque, 38, and Vincentian, Glenroy Pierre, 33, of Queen’s Drive were charged jointly with possession of 34,050 grammes of cocaine approximately 31Kg or 74 lbs, with intent to supply." IF IT'S THE NAME GLENROY PIERRE...YOU'D THINK THIS BANNA WOULDA LEARN??!!!!