By SANCHESKA BROWN
Tribune Staff Reporter
sbrown@tribunemedia.net
FNM SENATOR JOHN Bostwick is in police custody after he was found with a quantity of ammunition at the Grand Bahama International Airport on Saturday.
According to reports, Bostwick was in the domestic section of the airport when, during a routine check, airport security discovered a quantity of ammunition in his luggage.
A police statement said that at around 7:20pm on Saturday, the X-ray machine security officer noticed a suspicious object in the bag carried by the 42-year-old and alerted the police at the airport.
The officers checked the bag and reportedly found ten rounds of .22 ammunition.
The Senator was taken into custody and flown to Nassau yesterday, where he is being held at the Central Detective Unit. He is expected to be charged in connection with the incident.
In a short statement the Free National Movement said it expects a “professional police investigation.”
“The FNM has learned of the troubling allegation involving Senator John Bostwick in Freeport, Grand Bahama, last evening. The prayers of the party go out to the Bostwick family during this distressing hour,” the statement read.
“As a party which respects the rule of law, we confidently expect a thorough and professional police investigation and urge the public to allow due process to take its proper course.”
Mr Bostwick was sworn in as Senator in February 2013. He was the FNM’s pick to replace Zhivargo Laing after his resignation on December 31, 2012.
He is the son of former opposition Leader J Henry Bostwick, QC, and former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Attorney General Janet Bostwick, the first woman to be elected to the House of Assembly.
Mr Bostwick was also the FNM’s Bain and Grants Town candidate during the May 2012 general election, but lost to National Security Minister Dr Bernard Nottage and DNA hopeful Rodney Moncur.
He is also the author of “Bahamas 20/20 Vision,” a 20-year national plan for the country.
Earlier this month, FNM chairman, Darron Cash’s home was raided by CDU officers as a part of an investigation into leaked files at the Bank of the Bahamas.
Officers seized two laptops and a smart cellular phone, the property of Mr Cash, during the search of his home.
Two days later, attorney Carl Bethel, on behalf of Mr Cash filed a constitutional motion in the Supreme Court, arguing that Cash’s rights had been violated. Last week an amicable agreement was struck in the Court.
The Free National Movement has branded the search of Cash’s home as a witch hunt.
Comments
proudloudandfnm 9 years, 11 months ago
Bostwick is not stupid enough to have live ammo in his bag at the airport. No one is. I smell yet another PLP set up. PLP are really getting nasty this time.... Moncur, Cash and now Bostwick.
sheeprunner12 9 years, 11 months ago
But people saying there's NO "intelligence" in the PLP ....... wat u think??? Are they all henchmen??????????????????
Cobalt 9 years, 11 months ago
Not stupid enough to have live ammo in his bag??? You obviously don't know this man. Of course he's stupid enough to make a mistake like that. Have you ever met this man or had to deal with he or his step-children? If you did... you would know that he's quite the jackass. I think he was smoking his joint and forgot that he had some extra shots in his bag.
CANDACESCOTT 9 years, 11 months ago
oh my gosh....
ThisIsOurs 9 years, 11 months ago
He should resign.
Honestman 9 years, 11 months ago
If he is guilty he should be sacked as a senator but I think we should be careful not to rush to judgment. The circumstances surrounding this arrest are peculiar to say the least and need careful investigation. It is certainly not beyond the realms of possibility that he has been set up.
TalRussell 9 years, 11 months ago
What in the hell does the police interaction with Daron and John have in common? My prayers are with Parents Bostwicks but for Comrade reporter Sancheska to infer there is a parallel between the policeman's showing up at her red Comrade Daron's home, armed with a duly authorized search and seizure warrant, is much too red leaning for even the diehard red shirts. Or is it? Comrade Sister Sancheska you can't just be pulling crazy stuff out your reporter's red coloured handbag.
Honestman 9 years, 11 months ago
Does anyone honestly believe that an intelligent man like Bostwick would be foolish enough to put live ammunition in his luggage? Come on folks? How easy would it have been for the many persons handling his luggage to slip something incriminating into his suitcase at some point in the journey? This story does not stack up at all and so everyone needs to keep an open mind, especially the police.
goodread 9 years, 11 months ago
What airport personnel handles your baggage out of your sight before you reach the X-ray scanning area if you are carrying it on you like the report says?
proudloudandfnm 9 years, 11 months ago
Why wasn't the ammo detected in Nassau when he flew to Freeport? Or did he come all the way to Freeport to buy ten rounds of ammo?
Rodney, Cash and now Bostwick.... Something is very wrong in our country......
CANDACESCOTT 9 years, 11 months ago
I agree...it just dont add up...
sheeprunner12 9 years, 11 months ago
I agree...... it doesnt add up ............ we have to wait until we hear ALL sides of this story
PastorTroy 9 years, 11 months ago
Data Pirates of the Caribbean: The NSA Is Recording Every Cell Phone Call in the Bahamas.
READ ABOUT IT HERE!
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/ar...">https://firstlook.org/theintercept/ar...
Observer 9 years, 11 months ago
People, be patient, unless you are a REAL witness to what transpired; contain yourselves until you hear the truth of the matter. Quiet please and stop the speculation, which all amount to a LIE.
PastorTroy 9 years, 11 months ago
LEGALIZE CANNABIS NOW!!! This make's no sense! It was very naive to our DINOSAURS in Bahamas Government to think that, even though bills is currently or has been introduced in every state in the U.S.A to legalize MJ for recreational or medicinal purpose, they (U.S.A) was still having a 'build up' of DEA and FBI agents in The Bahamas (less than 400,000 people) and still giving MILLIONS of dollars! Now EVERY CELLPHONE CALL including those in the Government is being recorded!!! JUST FOR DOPE?????? WHAT ABOUT THESE GUNS??? It's call ECONOMIC SABOTAGE! We brought China on their 'doorsteps' now this is what we get!!!!.................................. ............................................. ...........................................
The documents don’t spell out how the NSA has been able to tap the phone calls of an entire country. But one memo indicates that SOMALGET data is covertly acquired under the auspices of “lawful intercepts” made through Drug Enforcement Administration “accesses”– legal wiretaps of foreign phone networks that the DEA requests as part of international law enforcement cooperation.
When U.S. drug agents need to tap a phone of a suspected drug kingpin in another country, they call up their counterparts and ask them set up an intercept. To facilitate those taps, many nations – including the Bahamas – have hired contractors who install and maintain so-called lawful intercept equipment on their telecommunications.
PastorTroy 9 years, 11 months ago
But what many foreign governments fail to realize is that U.S. drug agents don’t confine themselves to simply fighting narcotics traffickers. “DEA is actually one of the biggest spy operations there is,” says Finn Selander, a former DEA special agent who works with the drug-reform advocacy group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. “Our mandate is not just drugs. We collect intelligence.”
PastorTroy 9 years, 11 months ago
The Bahamas’ Listening Devices Act requires all wiretaps to be authorized in writing either by the minister of national security or the police commissioner in consultation with the attorney general. The individuals to be targeted must be named. Under the nation’s Data Protection Act, personal data may only be “collected by means which are both lawful and fair in the circumstances of the case.” The office of the Bahamian data protection commissioner, which administers the act, said in a statement that it “was not aware of the matter you raise.”
birdiestrachan 9 years, 11 months ago
At least this time the FNM"S Dr Sand as in the Darron Cash situation is not talking foolishness Gestapo like . Dr. Minnis "Democracy under siege" And others Witch hunt, Mr. Carl Bethel said in not so many words The Police has done nothing wrong. They should all apologise to the Police.
And their Papa with his holograms story. I Suppose they have not had enough time to make up their lies as yet. After all we all know PLP's are bad people and FNM's are saints. according to them. But right thinking people know different. I trust they will deal with this young man, the same way they deal with persons from Farm Road.
crabman 9 years, 11 months ago
Knucklehead, next trip I have a suggestion, if you are not smart enough to pack your own bags all I can say is two words to you to keep you out of trouble"MAIL BOAT"
John 9 years, 11 months ago
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Did you ever wonder why the US "stopped" sending manned missions to the moon? Have you wondered why there were so much "Cash for Gold" operations in the Bahamas and other parts of the Caribbean and yes the world? And where does most of this gold end up? Secret society is in full operation. Big brother has been spying on you long time.
242orgetslu 9 years, 11 months ago
This is the link where the full story is: http://si.com/vault/article/magazine/...">http://si.com/vault/article/magazine/...
Across the inky-blue Gulf Stream from Florida, near the sheer edge of the Great Bahama Bank, a new island is emerging from the sea. Although it bears the appealing name Ocean Cay, this new island is not, and never will be, a palm-fringed paradise of the sort the Bahamian government promotes in travel ads. No brace of love doves would ever choose Ocean Cay for a honeymoon; no beauty in a brief bikini would waste her sweetness on such desert air. Of all the 3,000 islands and islets and cays in the Bahamas, Ocean Cay is the least lovely. It is a flat, roughly rectangular island which, when completed, will be 200 acres and will resemble a barren swatch of the Sahara. Ocean Cay does not need allure. It is being dredged up from the seabed by the Dillingham Corporation of Hawaii for an explicit purpose that will surely repel more tourists than it will attract. In simplest terms, Ocean Cay is a big sandpile on which the Dillingham Corporation will pile more sand that it will subsequently sell on the U.S. mainland. The sand that Dillingham is dredging is a specific form of calcium carbonate called aragonite, which is used primarily in the manufacture of cement and as a soil neutralizer. For the past 5,000 years or so, with the flood of the tide, waters from the deep have moved over the Bahamian shallows, usually warming them in the process so that some of the calcium carbonate in solution precipitated out. As a consequence, today along edges of the Great Bahama Bank there are broad drifts, long bars and curving barchans of pure aragonite. Limestone, the prime source of calcium carbonate, must be quarried, crushed and recrushed, and in some instances refined before it can be utilized. By contrast, the aragonite of the Bahamian shallows is loose and shifty stuff, easily sucked up by a hydraulic dredge from a depth of one or two fathoms. The largest granules in the Bahamian drifts are little more than a millimeter in diameter. Because of its fineness and purity, the Bahamian aragonite can be used, agriculturally or industrially, without much fuss and bother. It is a unique endowment. There are similar aragonite drifts scattered here and there in the warm shallows of the world, but nowhere as abundantly as in the Bahamas. In exchange for royalties, the Dillingham Corporation has exclusive rights in four Bahamian areas totaling 8,235 square miles. In these areas there are about four billion cubic yards—roughly 7.5 billion long tons—of aragonite. At rock-bottom price the whole deposit is worth more than $15 billion. An experienced dredging company like Dillingham should be able to suck up 10 million tons a year, which will net the Bahamian government an annual royalty of about $600,000.
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