US arrests British islands prime minister for drug smuggling
US federal agents arrested the prime minister of the British Virgin Islands and the port manager of the Caribbean islands Thursday at Miami airport on charges of plotting to bring cocaine into the United States and money laundering, according to US authorities.
The Miami Herald reported that DEA agents at Miami Opa-Luca Airport had arrested Andrew Altoro Fahey, Prime Minister of the British Virgin Islands, and Olianfin Maynard, director of the Port Authority's Department of the Islands.
Authorities told the newspaper that the foreign officials were arrested after they met undercover DEA agents disguised as cocaine smugglers to check a $700,000 consignment on a plane they believed was bound for the British Virgin Islands.
US Drug Enforcement Administration agents pretended to be members of the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel.
Authorities said a third suspect, Cadim Maynard, the son of a British Virgin Islands port manager, was also arrested Thursday in connection with the drug case, but not in Miami.
The three defendants were charged with conspiracy to bring more than 5 kilograms of cocaine into the United States and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
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