The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune News Editor 

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

A SENIOR police officer has alleged that an unnamed high-ranking Bahamian politician authorised the help and involvement of Bahamian law enforcement officials in a scheme to facilitate cocaine shipments from The Bahamas to the United States for $2m, according to a stunning United States federal indictment released yesterday that includes some of the most severe allegations of official corruption since the drug era of the 80s.

The United States District Court Southern District of New York has alleged that drug traffickers have smuggled tons of cocaine through The Bahamas into the United States since 2021 with the "support and protection of corrupt Bahamian government officials, including high-ranking members of the Royal Bahamas Police Force."

The Tribune obtained the indictment after police Commissioner Clayton Fernander revealed in a press statement last night that two senior law enforcement officers were arrested in Florida yesterday on drug and firearm charges. The officers, Chief Superintendent of Police Elvis Curtis, the officer in charge of aviation, and Chief Petty Officer Darren Roker, a defence force officer, will be transported to federal courts in New York for trial on charges of conspiracy to import cocaine, possession and use of firearms, and firearms conspiracy. 

Commissioner Fernander also said Sergeant Prince Albert Symonette, a force pensioner, has been named in the indictment and will be suspended from duty effective immediately. 

The matter is the latest case that will heighten scrutiny on the country's top leadership of law enforcement. 

American prosecutors say corrupt police officials "provided sensitive law enforcement information to drug traffickers, protected them from investigation and arrest, and helped them with the logistics of moving massive shipments of cocaine through The Bahamas en route to distribution in the United States."

"Corrupt RBPF officials have, for example, provided warnings to cocaine traffickers when the Drug Enforcement Administration was carrying out operations in The Bahamas so that traffickers could protect their cocaine shipments from interdiction and themselves from investigation and arrest," the indictment says. 

"These corrupt RBPF and Bahamian government officials support the drug trade into the United States at every turn — from the airports, airstrips, and ports in the island chain that serve as points of entry for the cocaine shipments into The Bahamas, and onto maritime vessels that are then used to transmit the cocaine through shipping routes from the northernmost points of The Bahamas and into the United States." 

The indictment accuses some RBPF officials of exploiting the force's longstanding involvement in Operation Bahamas Turks and Caicos (OPBAT), a critical drug-fighting programme, of allowing drug trafficking to flourish. 

RBPF officials are accused of denying DEA officials access to seized cocaine and related evidence, provided information contradicted by aerial surveillance and, "on at least one occasion, informed a DEA agent that certain drug-trafficking targets were 'off-limits.'"

The indictment identifies several people who either allegedly used their power for corrupt purposes, were drug traffickers, or facilitated drug trafficking through their professional services like charter flights. These include CSP Curtis, Sgt Symonette, Mr Roker, Riccardo Davis, a Bahamian government official, William Simeon, Theodore Adderley, Joshua Scavella, Lorielmo Steele-Pomare, Luis Fernando Orozco-Toro, Davon Rolle, Darren Ferguson, Domonick Delancy and Donald Ferguson.

Officials say the drugs to The Bahamas primarily originated in Colombia and Venezuela and were received at remote airstrips and larger airports under the supervision of corrupt police officials who accepted bribes. 

CSP Curtis and SGT Symonette allegedly received a $10,000 cash bribe on October 18, 2023, as a down payment for helping with a future 600-kilogram cocaine shipment through the Lynden Pindling International Airport to the United States. 

Explaining how the scheme worked, prosecutors said RBDF Officer Roker used his access to maritime routes and ports. On November 6, 2024, he allegedly explained to drug traffickers that he could give them information on the location of US Coast Guard and RBDF vessels and provide advanced warning of potential interdiction efforts. 

CSP Curtis and SGT Symonette allegedly "engaged in extensive discussions regarding the use of their official positions to transport bulk money — from Florida to The Bahamas, including by Bahamian government or military aircraft, in exchange for an approximately ten percent commission," the indictment alleges. 

"Curtis, Symonette and Riccardo Adolphus Davis, the defendant, planned a trip to the United States to receive approximately $1.5m in US currency, which would represent an advanced payment on an agreed-upon at least approximately 500-kilogram load of cocaine to be imported through The Bahamas into the United States." 

The indictment comes as The Bahamas continues to grapple with a gun violence crisis. A recent US report revealed that 85 percent of firearms recovered in The Bahamas between 2018 and 2022 were traced to retail buyers in the United States, the highest proportion among Caribbean countries.

The arrests also come during a period of heightened scrutiny of the police force’s top brass. Over the summer, leaked voice notes involving a senior police officer in dealings with gang members prompted an ongoing FBI-assisted investigation, with the head of the Criminal Investigation Division, Michael Johnson, placed on garden leave.

Last night, Office of the Prime Minister director of communications Latrae Rahming said Prime Minister Philp Davis will address the indictment in the House of Assembly this morning.