Last Thursday and Friday RST and Sint Maarten Police conducted house searches in Cupecoy and in Pelican.
In an apartment on the Rhine Road a pistol and an amount of approx. $ 13.500 was seized. During a subsequent search in a house on the Amber Road an amount of approx. $ 673.500 was found of which a quantity was found in the washing machine. Finally a rifle was confiscated in the same house.
Information from a foreign law enforcement agency together with actual local police information, lead the Public Prosecutor’s Office to ask the judge for his permission to conduct the house searches. A third house was searched but appeared to be empty. In the house on Amber Road a 44 year old Venezuelan man, F.J.M.M., was arrested on Thursday. After his interrogation this weekend, subsequently 46 year old F.H. from Sint Maarten was arrested on Monday on the suspicion of gun possession. F.H. was lead before the judge today after the prosecutor asked for his pre-trial detention. The judge granted this request but immediately suspended his detention based on personal grounds of the suspect.
The Venezuelan suspect’s custody was prolonged for another 8 days. His pre-trial detention will be requested later this week. The investigation is still ongoing.
Besides the huge amount of money and the fire arms, a lot of paperwork and files were seized. They have to be investigated on.
It is the intention of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and Police to step up law enforcement regarding international and national money laundering. This investigation is the result of that intention and was based on intensified international cooperation between foreign and national law enforcement agencies.
The Chief Public Prosecutor
H.F. Mos