Damning

Court filings from an indictment was unsealed in a Southern District Court of New York where two police officers—Chief Superintendent Elvis Curtis and Sergeant Prince Symonette—and a defense force officer Chief Petty Officer Darren Roker– will stand trial for cocaine importation conspiracy, firearms use, and carrying and possession and firearms conspiracy.

The big picture

The officers with ten other people, are mentioned in the indictment and are accused of trafficking tons of cocaine through the Bahamas into the United States for distribution, since May 2021, “with the support and protection of corrupt Bahamian government officials,” and “provided sensitive law enforcement information to drug traffickers,” [and] “protected them from investigation and arrest.”

Driving the news

Chief Superintendent Elvis Curtis is in charge of the Lynden Pindling International Airport and is accused of accepting bribes from traffickers to facilitate the transportation of cocaine while “providing safe passage for the traffickers and their cocaine loads through the Nassau Airport and elsewhere in the Bahamas.”

• According to the unsealed document, Sergeant Prince Symonette of the Royal Bahamas Police Force worked with Curtis and traffickers to transport the drug by air and sea while accepting bribes “for streamlining customs clearance for aircraft,” receiving bribery money of $10,000 as a down payment.
• Chief Petty Officer Darren Roker of the Royal Bahamas Defense Force received $10,000 in bribery money as a down payment to alert traffickers about sensitive operations by the US Coast Guard and OPBAT.

State of play

The names of several other pilots, a purported Bahamian government official, and Columbian officials appear in the document:

• Riccardo Davis, a purported Bahamian official allegedly used his influence to authorize trafficking. According to the indictment, he along with Curtis and Symonette “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.”
• William Simeon is accused of being a trafficker, working with “certain corrupt RBPF officials and others” to transport cocaine by air from South America.
• Theodore Adderley is accused of being a trafficker working with “certain corrupt RBPF officials and others” to transport cocaine by air from South America.
• Joshua Scavella, a pilot, was accused of coordinating shipments and working with Simeon and Adderley.
• Lorielmo Steele-Pomare is a Colombian citizen and an alleged narcotics broker, who introduced Colombian and Bahamian traffickers.
• Luis Fernando Orozco-Toro is a Colombian who ships cocaine from South America to the US from the Bahamas.
• Davon Rolle is an alleged trafficker who facilitates the operation “typically by boat, including go fast boast from Bimini to Miami” according to the document.
• Darren Ferguson, a former pilot, operates as a middleman.
• Domonick Delancy, a pilot “flies cocaine shipments from South America to the Bahamas.”
• Donald Ferguson II, a pilot who “works closely with Domonick Delancy.”

Context

The indictment shocked the country and became one of many corruption claims plaguing the Royal Bahamas Police Force. Curtis has implicated a politician in the dealings claiming the unnamed politician authorized the shipment of narcotics from The Bahamas to USA for $2 million.

Between the lines

Curtis and Roker were caught in Florida but will be transported to New York for trial.

Featured Image: Chief Superintendent Elvis Curtis (Left) and Chief Petty Officer Darren Roker