Premier of British Virgin Islands Arrested By DEA

"HEARST", "Socalj", and "narcomappingmx" for Borderland Beat 

The leader of the British Virgin Islands, Andrew Fahie, was arrested by DEA agents after he was caught organizing and facilitating cocaine being smuggled to the US. 

Premier Andrew Fahie believed a Mexican drug trafficker from the Sinaloa Cartel was paying him to temporarily store shipments of around 3,000 kilograms of cocaine that were on their way to be sold in the US.  However the supposed Mexican drug trafficker he was working with was actually a confidential source working for the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). 

What is a "premier" anyways? In the British Virgin Islands, the premier is the leader of the country’s executive branch and the position is won in a manner similar to the UK's system of government, where the leader of the majority party becomes prime minister.

Andrew Fahie has been the representative within the House of Assembly since he was elected in 1999, when he was only 28 years old. He became the head of the Virgin Islands Party in November 2016, but at the time the Virgin Islands Party was the minority party within the house. In the 2019 general election, Andrew Fahie’s party became the majority party and Fahie subsequently became the Premier of the Virgin Islands. 

According to the criminal affidavit that was reviewed by Borderland Beat, the British Virgin Island’s premier, the managing director of the port and her son are all being charged with drug smuggling and money laundering offenses.

The affidavit details the following events:

A DEA confidential source (henceforth called "CS") had several meetings on the island of Tortola, in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), with a group that claimed they were Hezbollah operatives. 

Hezbollah is a Muslim militant group based out of Lebanon. They are quite involved in drug trafficking, which is part of how it funds other aspects of the organization that it is more known for - namely as a terrorist and political activities, as well as working as a security apparatus and social services network within Lebanon. Their pervasive connection in many cross-border narcotics routes are why you can often find Hezbollah listed as a “known alliance” of the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generation and Sinaloa Cartel. 

CS told the allegedly-Hezbollah men that he wanted to start using the Tortola port as a temporary holding location for shipments of cocaine that were being smuggled via boat to the United States from Colombia. 

The operatives said they could set up the introductions to BVI government officials that would be necessary but, they warned, these government officials would expect payment in exchange for protecting his shipments. The operatives said they had contacts who worked directly with the Premier of the BVI, Andrew Fahie (“Fahie”). 

At the request of CS, the Hezbollah-claiming group arranged a meeting with the managing director of the Port Authority, Oleanvine Maynard ("Maynard"), but she was insisting on up front payment for the meeting. 

On around March 16, 2022, the CS met with Oleavine Maynard’s son, Kadeem Maynard ("Kadeem") in Tortola. The two men discussed the potential shipments and things that would need to be put in place. 

CS told Kadeem that he was from Mexico, he worked as a “fixer” and that he needed to meet with Maynard in order to negotiate a deal. At one point, the CS told Kadeem that he had been "this" (a reference to drug trafficking) for a long time. Kadeem, in turn, told the CS that he had been doing "this" for twenty years. 

Kadeem reassured the CS that Maynard would meet with him and they exchanged contact information. Later Kadeem relayed to the CS the details about a time and place that he could have a meeting with Maynard, which she agreed to do on the island of St. Thomas, in the US Virgin Islands 

On around March 20, 2022, the CS met with Maynard, who was accompanied by her son Kadeem, on the island of St. Thomas. The CS told both of them that he belonged to the Sinaloa Cartel and his organization was wanting to move thousands of kilos of cocaine coming from his cartel’s "kitchens" (cocaine laboratories) in Colombia through Tortula. Then the shipments would make a stop in Puerto Rico before moving on to Miami and then eventually New York. 

The CS asked them what the going price on the island was for a kilo of cocaine. Kadeem said it was $10,000. The CS said that getting a kilo of cocaine to the island only took $4,000, so the profit margins may seem nice on the island but that same kilo would sell for $26,000 to $28,000 a kilogram in Miami, or $32,000 to $38,000 in New York. 

The CS proposed a test run of 3,000 kilograms of cocaine within a shipment container that would come in on a big boat. If the test run went to plan, they would do four months of 3,000 kilo loads coming through the island two or three times a month. Then, they would take a break for a number of months before resuming again.

The CS said the deal he was proposing would pay them a certain percentage of the kilos sale in the US. Maynard said that this was agreeable and that they wanted to receive their payment through shell companies, to launder the money.

The CS said the shipment containers would only be in their port for a 24 to 48 hour period while awaiting a time window to move into Puerto Rico. 

Maynard asked the CS, "You want it to be done legally? So nobody will come around?" 

The CS responded that he needed whatever paperwork would “cover him”. Maynard said, "That is where I can assist. We need different licenses, which I can get... so we can process your paperwork, so you can come into the territory for a couple days, and then move on... That is easy." 

Kadeem said they had developed a plan to deal with customs and the best option was to set up a business as a shipping agent. Maynard explained that she had already started looking into different licenses, adding "you have to legitimize what you're doing."

Maynard said a meeting with Premier Fahie and -Unnamed- Government Official 1 was needed if this deal was going to happen. Kadeem said of Maynard, "she knows the Premier. He's down with her. So she can go to him at any time, and he would say ‘ok’." 

Maynard agreed and said "I know the man. If he sees an opportunity, he will take it ... I know the type of person he is, so I know he will take the opportunity." 

Maynard added: "You see, with my Premier… he's a little crook sometimes... He's not always straight."

At the end of the meeting, the CS provided Maynard with a bag containing $10,000 in United States currency, saying it was a gesture of good faith. Maynard responded that she would start her "homework" tomorrow.

In order to limit direct contact, messages between Maynard (and later Fahie) would come through Kadeem, who would most often used WhatsApp texts to reach the CS. 

Kadeem texted the CS and told him that he was going to be meeting the “head coach” tomorrow to discuss the proposed deal. The “head coach” and sports lingo was a code they were using to disguise discussions about Premier Fahie. 

On March 22, 2022, Kadeem texted the CS "meeting completed and successful, head coach wants to play with the team this season."

Later that day the CS had a phone call with Maynard and Kadeem to discuss how their meeting with Fahie went. They told CS that Fahie was very interested in the deal. Fahie said that he wanted an up-front payment of $500,000. In exchange, Fahie would handle the ports and airports so that the shipment would go undisturbed as well as bring Government Official 1 onboard with a series of bribes.. 

The CS was agreeable to these terms so they arranged for the CS to meet Premier Andrew Fahie for the first time, in about two weeks time. 

The CS had a phone call with Kadeem and Maynard where they told him that Fahie was still sure he wanted to work with him but Fahie also wanted more information about the CS so that he could make the deal appear more legally legitimate. Fahie wanted to have a phone call with the CS before he actually met with him in person. 

Maynard and Kadeem explained that Fahie was a bit skittish about dirty money because his government had been subject to an independent inquiry due to claims of widespread corruption and fraud involving millions of pounds of public money. It is the first inquiry of its kind in more than 10 years - the last took place in 2008 to investigate corruption on Turks and Caicos.

In a written statement to parliament, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said: "The UK is extremely concerned about the state of good governance in the British Virgin Islands.” 

Corruption was often seen in the form of fraudulent infrastructure and transportation projects like $7 million spent on an airline that did not exist and more than a million dollars spent on a fence for a public school. Or in $40 million set aside for families struggling due to the COVID19 pandemic which may have been funneled into the pockets of political allies. There have been claims of intimidation being used against journalists covering the activities of the BVI government. 

Kadeem was quick to pipe up and tell the CS that he still had dirt on Fahie in this regard.

Kadeem, Maynard, and Fahie called the CS. The CS provided the additional information which Fahie had requested. Fahie explained that he just had to be cautious to make sure the CS wasn't law enforcement. 

He told the CS, "It took me 20 years to get here, and I don't want to leave in 20 minutes."

Satisfied with the information the CS provided, Fahie agreed to go forward with the meeting which was scheduled for April 7, 2022, where they would work out the final details of their deal, and the call ended. 

Afterwards, the CS asked Kadeem if the “head coach” had said anything about how the call went. 

Kadeem responded: "He say he feel much comfortable now and we going forward he going make sure your safe and whatever you want try to make sure you have what you need... just want to make sure the funds is for real."

On April 7, 2022, the CS arrived on the island of Tortola and met up with Kadeem and Maynard.

They told the CS that they would be picked up and driven to a meeting with Fahie. A vehicle with two men in the front seats arrived at their location and picked up Maynard and the CS. The vehicle’s driver began the hour-long drive to the arranged meeting location and Kadeem, meanwhile, was forced to take another vehicle. The man in the front passenger seat began speaking and they realized that it was Premier Andrew Fahie himself, having chosen to accompany his driver to pick them up. 

During the drive, Fahie spoke to the CS and complained that the British didn't pay him very much. The car eventually arrived at a large stone house. Fahie, Maynard, and the CS entered the home and sat down to talk while Kadeem stood outside the house with the premier’s security detail. 

The CS went over the details of his proposal with Fahie. He told Fahie that the cocaine would be packaged in construction material, hidden within five-kilogram buckets of waterproofing paint in such a way that it would not test positive for cocaine. The cocaine would later be extracted over the course of about four days in either Puerto Rico or Miami.

In addition to the drug transports, the CS proposed they could organize "seizures" of bad drugs and money by Fahie in the BVI, so that they could avoid suspicion, and make it look like Fahie was fighting drug trafficking. Fahie laughed and said the CS had thought of everything.

Fahie asked the CS if he was actually an undercover cop, and “the CS responded in a way that re-assured Fahie he was not.” 

Fahie said he was concerned about law enforcement because he believed that the British had been trying for years to get him out of office. 

He said "I have plenty of people, and I don't sell them out to the British with their plans. Their plans are to catch all the people, like what you said... They always want to capture people, but me - I see what they are doing and I protect the people." 

Later on, Fahie told the CS that he had responded perfectly to his question about him actually being an undercover cop. 

The CS asked Fahie about getting Government Official 1 on board. Fahie said that Government Official 1 had many “employers”. This is believed to be a reference to drug traffickers who were paying Government Official 1 to do their bidding. Fahie said it was easier to just pay him to get on board, rather than go through meetings or win his approval on the plan. 

The CS proposed paying Fahie and Maynard a percent of his cocaine sales in exchange for their aid, asking Fahie what percent he'd want. Fahie asked the CS what he thought the appropriate percentage would be. The CS offered 12% of the value of the cocaine sold in the United States to Fahie and Maynard. 

Fahie pulled out a calculator, and ran the numbers of 3,000 kilos times $26,000 (the Miami price per kilo). The total was $78 million. Fahie then calculated that 10% of $78 million would be $7.8 million. (It is unspecified in the affidavit why he calculated 10% and not 12%, when 12% was the discussed amount. It is possible that Maynard had a deal to take 2%, leaving Fahie to take 10%.) 

Fahie officially accepted the deal proposed by the CS. 

In exchange for their efforts to get licenses approved and pushed through prior to the meeting, Fahie requested a $500,000 upfront payment. The CS agreed. 

As the talks were winding down, CS provided Fahie with $20,000 in cash, telling him that "This is a good faith gift, to seal that we have an agreement." 

After seeing the gift, Fahie asked if Maynard could step out of the room for a moment, which she did. Then Fahie admitted to the CS that he was in a real bad spot because he owed a man in Senegal a lot of money. Fahie said that he needed to pay $83,000 in cash soon. 

The CS said he could take care of this for Fahie. They’d all meet up together in Miami in about 20 days' time because Maynard and Fahie were already scheduled to be in town for a cruise ship conference at that time. Once they were all in Miami, the CS would gather $700,000 in cash and place the payment inside a private jet on a runway at Miami-Opa Locka airport.

On April 27, 2022, the CS and a DEA undercover officer ("UC") met with Maynard at a hotel in Miami, Florida, to discuss details of their arrangement and a side deal that her son Kadeem was planning with the CS.

The CS asked Maynard if she had the shell companies set up yet and she told the CS that they were all set up and ready. She told the CS that she had made a special arrangement so that the drug boats would not even have to enter the port itself. She said that Fahie would clear this arrangement with Government Official 1 on their behalf.

On the evening of April 27, 2022, the CS and the UC met with Fahie in the hotel lobby. They exchanged introductions, and then they discussed business in a rented conference room. Bizarrely, Fahie asked the CS to start off their discussion with a prayer, and then immediately began to speak about the money that he needed in order to payback the man from Senegal. 

The CS asked Fahie about the man, and why Fahie owed him money. Fahie replied that he had known him for years, and that the man had "fixed" some political issues for him. The money was payment for "fixing" those political issues.

The CS stated that the first shipment should arrive on the 7th of July, and that the UC would be on the island as his contact to manage the movement of the money. The CS explained that he would only return if things needed to be fixed. 

Fahie then mentioned that he had a friend who managed a lot of things, including moving guns and cocaine. Fahie said that "he" (meaning the friend) would handle this for him.

The CS said that during the 8 month rest in between periods of shipping they would send shipments of low purity, "brown" cocaine that Fahie could have his law enforcement seized and make a big show of being tough on drug trafficking. Fahie loved the idea. 

The CS offered to fly Fahie on a private plane tomorrow so that he could stay another night in Miami and Fahie accepted the offer.

On April 28, 2022, the CS and UC drove Fahie to the runway for the private flight he had offered the night before. Once their car was on the runway, the CS told Fahie that he had something to show him and they exited their vehicle and approached the private plane with the cash payment that Maynard was going to escort to BVI later. The CS took Fahie into the back of the plane and he showed Fahie designer shopping bags stuffed full of stacks of US dollars, totaling $700,000 in cash. The UC said they wanted Fahie to see it in person to confirm their payment. 

Then, the three men exited the private plane full of cash and Fahie was arrested by DEA agents.  Fahie reportedly asked, as he was being detained, "why am I getting arrested? I don't have any money or drugs."

Later that same morning, the CS and UC picked up Maynard and drove her to the same private plane at the Opa Locka airport runway. Upon arrival, the parties walked onto the tarmac and entered the plane. The stacks of cash stuffed inside shopping bags from designer boutiques were shown to Maynard by the CS while he emphasized the importance of keeping the money secure to both him and to his organization as a whole. Maynard agreed and as they exited the plane, she was arrested by DEA agents. 

Sources: USA v. Fahie Affidavit, DEA Statement, Miami Herald, New York Times, The Guardian, Virgin Island News Online, Bloomberg, Reuters, BBC, Sky News