By EARYEL BOWLEG
Tribune Staff Reporter
ebowleg@tribunemedia.net
WHEN the drug trial of former Police Staff Association chairman Sonny Miller continued on Friday, a witness claimed he was threatened not to discuss his statements to police in court.
The witness, Christhian Garcia Aristizabal, was one of two Columbian men charged with Mr Miller for allegedly importing 181lb of cocaine and 31lb of Indian Hemp into Acklins in June 2022.
Aristizabal said he was in Venezuela on June 6 when he received information that led him to fly to The Bahamas the next day with Christhian Gaviria Aragon and loads of drugs.
He said when they arrived in Acklins around 7pm on June 7, 2022, they saw a man in a black hoodie on the tarmac who gave them a satellite phone.
Aristizabal said when he turned off the plane and disembarked, he noticed a white police jeep. He said that a man who was in the jeep took drugs from the nose of the plane and placed them in a metallic tin. He did not say whether that man was Mr Miller.
He said the man in a black hoodie eventually left to get gasoline.
He said he was on land for 20 to 30 minutes when a helicopter arrived. He said he tried to leave, but heard two shots from police as he was offloading the drugs.
He said officers signalled they were being arrested, and two men came from the helicopter. He said his belongings and that of his partner were taken.
He said police left in a jeep but returned 20 minutes later. He said he and his partner were directed to the helicopter while the drugs in their plane were confiscated.
Footage of the drug bust was shown in court.
When Bjorn Ferguson, Mr Miller’s lawyer, cross-examined him, Aristizabal said he had two police interviews in New Providence.
He said during the first interview on June 8, 2022, he did not give the full story about what happened as advised by his attorney.
He said during the second interview on July 5, 2023, he spoke for the first time of police involvement in the matter and said he placed contraband in the back seat of a police vehicle.
He said since his time at the Department of Corrections, he has not been visited by a lawyer, but by police officers.
He insisted he was not encouraged to make the claims he did to get a reduced sentence.
However, he claimed police threatened him not to discuss his statement in court.
He said he told prison officials this, but did not know if the officers who allegedly threatened him were pursued.
Meanwhile, US Coast Guard Lieutenant Commander Travis Rhea testified that he piloted the helicopter on the day of the drug bust.
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