A former premier of the British Virgin Islands has been convicted on drug trafficking charges in the United States, highlighting how systemic corruption makes the strategically located island territory a formidable cocaine trafficking hub.
On February 8, a jury in the Southern District of Florida found Andrew Fahie, premier of the British Virgin Islands (BVI) from 2019 to 2022, guilty of drug trafficking and money laundering, according to court records.
“The Government and people of the Virgin Islands respect the role of the court in the administration of justice,” the Virgin Islands Government said.
Fahie was arrested in April 2022 along with the head of the BVI port authority, Oleanvine Maynard, following a US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) sting operation involving a confidential informant dubbed “Roberto Quintero,” who posed as a Sinaloa Cartel drug trafficker.
In subsequent meetings between the informant, Fahie, and Oleanvine, the officials agreed to provide protection for a series of 3-ton cocaine shipments trafficked through the British Virgin Islands and on to Puerto Rico, according to a DEA affidavit. From there, the drugs would be shipped to Miami and New York.
Quintero and Fahie also discussed setting up shipments of low quality cocaine that would be seized by authorities in the British Virgin Islands. This would make it seem like Fahie was taking active steps against drug trafficking, the affidavit highlighted.
Fahie is scheduled to be sentenced in April and faces up to life in prison. Both the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency and the DEA declined InSight Crime’s request for comment on the case.
The former BVI premier joins former Panamanian President Manuel Noriega as the only other head of government in Latin America and the Caribbean to have been convicted in the United States for drug trafficking. However, former Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández will stand trial for drug trafficking starting February 20. Prosecutors have accused him of receiving millions of dollars in bribes in exchange for protecting a vast cocaine trafficking network.
Source: Caribbean Insight – Insightcrime.org 12 (Feb 2024)