Breaking News:

United States DEA agents handcuff British Virgin Islands Head of Government, ANDREW ALTURO FAHIE, one other for smuggling Cocaine into America, conspiring to launder money

…embattled premier claim immunity when taken into custody, saying: ‘I am demanding my immediate release from US custody. I am immune from prosecution on cocaine-smuggling charges since I am an elected constitutional head of government of the British overseas territory’

*Hidden camera record suspects at South Florida airport ready to meet Mexican drug traffickers to see a shipment of $700,000 in cash that officials expected to receive for helping to smuggle cocaine from Colombia to Miami and New York

*”Anyone involved with bringing dangerous drugs into the United States will be held accountable, no matter their position. 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”-DEA Administrator, Anne Milgram

*BY GEORGE ELIJAH OTUMU/AMERICAN Senior Investigative Editor

THIS IS a huge disgrace to the people and government of the British Virgin Islands. Most public office holders in this Island are regarded as ‘notoriously corrupt’. The arrest of the Head of Government described as ‘premier’ of the nation, Andrew Alturo Fahie and Managing Director Oleanvine Maynard in the United States for Cocaine smuggling and money laundering have sent shocking waves around the world.  

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 let the smugglers bring the cocaine through the port at Tortola before continuing on to the U.S.

Governor Of The British Virgin Islands John Rankin released a statement clarifying that Thursday’s arrests in Florida were not connected to a Commission of Inquiry issued last year in the territory. That investigation was meant to focus on governance and corruption, not a criminal investigation into the illegal drug trade, Rankin said in a statement posted online.

It isn’t known whether the commission had found any suspected wrongdoing by Fahie or Maynard, but Rankin said he expects to have the results published urgently to avoid unnecessary speculation.

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.

Immunity against Arrest-British Virgin Island:

The premier of the British Virgin Islands on Monday demanded his immediate release from US custody, saying he is immune from prosecution on cocaine-smuggling charges because he is the elected, constitutional head of government of the British overseas territory.

A lawyer for Andrew Fahie made the request in a filing with Miami federal court. Fahie, 51, was arrested last week during a US drug enforcement administration sting as he was preparing to board a private jet in Miami.

According to a criminal complaint, Fahie and Oleanvine Maynard, his ports director, had been at the airport to meet people they thought were Mexican drug traffickers but in reality were undercover DEA agents.

In the criminal complaint, Maynard refers to Fahie as a “little crook sometimes” who would not hesitate to profit from a plan cooked up with the help of self-proclaimed Lebanese Hezbollah operatives to move mass quantities of cocaine and drug proceeds through the Caribbean island.

The arrest shocked the British Virgin Islands, where Fahie was already facing allegations of widespread corruption, and seemed to bolster calls to suspend the constitution for two years to clean up the government and return to home rule by officials from London.

Fahie’s lawyer did not respond to a request for comment and in her two-page filing did not provide details about her client’s immunity claim.

Fahie, who also serves as the finance minister, was said to have traveled to Miami to attend a conference for the cruise industry and ahead of his departure had appointed a deputy to act as premier in his absence.

US prosecutions of foreign officials are rare and going after the British Virgin Islands’ top elected official would certainly have been approved at the highest levels of the US justice department and state department, given the potential impact.

For example, federal prosecutors in New York waited for Honduras’ president Juan Orlando Hernandez to step down this year before charging him with drug trafficking that first came to light in the trial of his brother. The string of islands of 35,000 people east of Puerto Rico is currently under a 2007 constitution giving it limited self-governance.

Governor John Rankin, who is the Queen’s representative to the islands and its ultimate executive authority, said the arrests prompted him to release, earlier than originally intended, a report by a commission of inquiry launched in January 2021 to investigate allegations of widespread government fraud.

Mr Rankin said the inquiry concluded that millions of dollars were spent on projects, some of them linked to allies of the premier, which were abandoned or found to be of no public benefit.

“Some of them were, on their face, false,” the governor said.

The commission had concluded that “unless the most urgent and drastic steps are taken, the current situation with elected officials deliberately ignoring the tenets of good governance will go on indefinitely,” Mr Rankin told a televised news conference.

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