The Tribune

By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Tribune Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

A POLICE officer accused of being involved in a drug smuggling incident in Crooked Island in December has returned to active duty.

Royal Bahamas Police Force Commissioner Paul Rolle said yesterday that while the suspects in the incident pleaded guilty and are spending time at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services, there was not sufficient evidence to prove the officer’s involvement.

“The persons that were found with the drugs were charged, appeared before the courts and pleaded guilty and they are now doing time in Fox Hill,” Commissioner Rolle said when asked about the matter.

“The matter as it relates to the police officer. We did not have sufficient evidence to secure what we believe (was a) prima facie case. He has been returned to active duty.”

In December, Commissioner Rolle had said that the RBPF was investigating a claim that an officer was allegedly involved in a $25m cocaine operation.

Police arrested two Venezuelan men at the Crooked Island Airport on Wednesday, December 22. Officers became suspicious when they heard the sound of an aircraft hovering around the island’s airport after 11.45pm.

When they were arraigned in court, the men, Luis Andres Perez, 29, and Jaime Digiacomo, 64, said that a police officer was involved in the matter.

They questioned why police did not report the involvement of a certain high-ranking officer who they claimed was supposed to receive the drugs and later take the plane.

Speaking through an interpreter, Digiacomo told the court that when they landed, the police officer in question was waiting to receive the shipment and was supposed to take them to a speedboat that would later travel to the Dominican Republic.

He also named the officer as being the chief of police of Crooked Island.

Asked in December if the officer was on leave, Commissioner Rolle said at the time: “He is not on leave. He ain’ gotta be on leave for me to do my investigations. He would be on leave if I find him at fault, he would have to answer. The chips will fall where they may. I just hope that he’s not involved, but the investigations are ongoing and we’ll see where it goes.”

In 2021, there were 4,672.96lbs of cocaine seized along with 30lbs of hashish.

Police also confiscated 6,323.97lbs of marijuana and 8,801 marijuana plants.