Big drug smuggling ring busted
56 indicted, 28 arrested, two here
PHILIPSBURG--Twenty-eight persons, including a man from Holland and one from the Dominican Republic who resided here in St. Maarten, were arrested over the weekend in connection with a multimillion-dollar international drug-smuggling and money-laundering operation.
Prosecutor Johan de Vrieze said Sunday the drug-smuggling and money-laundering operation spanned seven countries, including St. Maarten, the United States and Puerto Rico.
De Vrieze also disclosed that detectives of the Kingdom Detective Cooperation Team RST had played a vital role in exposing the mastermind behind the operation, as a result of which some 56 indictments have been issued for persons involved, 28 of whom have already been arrested.
The Dutch national De G. was the first of the two persons arrested here. He was held Friday afternoon and the second suspect M.V. was held on Saturday as he was attempting to leave the island for Puerto Rico.
According to De Vrieze these two coordinated the transhipment of drugs through St. Maarten in collaboration with their Colombian counterparts who organised the delivery using six speedboats that have been confiscated.
Millions of dollars identified by the authorities as being laundered and drug money have also been confiscated from several US and offshore bank accounts.
In addition, the authorities have confiscated about 1,900 kilos of cocaine so far.
De Vrieze explained that RST detectives had stumbled on some information earlier this year that they had followed. The information led them to several groups that appeared at first to be independent operations, but which they later learnt were linked.
The authorities were also able to get detailed information through wire taps that allowed US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) officers to infiltrate the organisation and identify key role-players, including one Lewis Penia Pereira who was also charged with kidnapping.
Pereira is believed to have orchestrated the kidnapping of a US citizen for whose release he demanded US $5 million in ransom. The victim managed to escape unharmed.
Giving additional details about the busted operation, De Vrieze explained that millions of dollars in drugs had been shipped from South America to Santo Domingo and then to the United States using St. Maarten as a transhipment island.
It seems that the cartel used a method called “the black market peso exchange” to “wash” their ill-gotten gains. They would exchange the money, or make investments with very little if any profit margins, as their prime concern was the return of funds through a legal channel.
The countries involved in the illegal operation were the USA, Puerto Rico, Colombia, St. Maarten, the United States Virgin Islands, the British Virgin Islands, and the Dominican Republic.
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