Security minster denies involvement in cocaine trafficking scheme

NASSAU, Bahamas (CMC):

National Security Minister, Wayne Munroe, has dismissed suggestions that he is the “high-ranking politician” being referred to by United States law enforcement authorities to facilitate a cocaine trafficking scheme.

Munroe told The Tribune newspaper that he has not received any money nor had he been asked to accommodate any wrongdoing.

“I have not offered to accommodate any wrongdoing, and I state that categorically,” he told the newspaper.

Prime Minister Phillip Davis told Parliament on Wednesday that the revelations by the United States authorities linking members of the Royal Bahamas Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) and the Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) strike at the “core of who we are as a nation”.

“Madam Speaker, this House and the Bahamian people deserve answers,” he said, adding that the government of The Bahamas will act decisively to ensure that those responsible for these breaches, regardless of rank or position, are held accountable.

“This betrayal will not go unanswered,” he vowed.

The United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams, Wednesday said that as alleged, for years, drug traffickers have smuggled tons of cocaine through The Bahamas with the support and protection of corrupt Bahamian government officials who control airports throughout the country and provide sensitive information about US Coast Guard movements to drug traffickers.

“This Indictment is the latest in a series of charges that this Office and the DEA’s Special Operations Division have brought against corrupt government officials around the globe, who partner with dangerous cocaine traffickers,” he added.

Williams, along with Anne Milgram, the administrator of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced on Wednesday afternoon the unsealing of the indictment charging 13 defendants with cocaine importation and related weapons offences in connection with their participation in a massive cocaine importation conspiracy enabled by “corrupt Bahamian government officials”.

The indictment states that in or about September 2024, one of the men arrested explained that, in exchange for a two million dollar bribe, a high-ranking Bahamian politician, whom the man named, would authorise the assistance and involvement of armed RBPF officials to facilitate incoming cocaine shipments.

But Munroe, who is currently attending a Caribbean Community (CARICOM) ministers of national security meeting in St Kitts, told the newspaper whether the politician’s identity is disclosed will depend on whether the US communicates the matter confidentially or not.