Vincentian duo nabbed in Barbados with cocaine

Vincentian Francois Ironsi Roberts has once again found himself on the wrong side of overseas law enforcement officers.

Roberts, 38, and another Vincentian Makaider Kristal Derrick, 24, were detained in Barbados at the Grantley Adams International Airport on Friday, August 26, by members of the Barbados Drug Squad after which they were charged with four drug offences.{{more}}

According to reports, the duo were on the same flight from St Vincent and after they disembarked, three plastic bottles containing a liquid substance, suspected to be cocaine, were found in Derrick’s luggage in a black pouch concealed in her suitcase.

She was arrested along with Roberts and further investigations resulted in Barbadian national Justin Selman, 47, of Lot 3A Berlin Road, St Phillip, also being arrested and charged with “Acts Preparatory To Traffic a Controlled Drug to Wit: Cocaine”.

It is not clear how Roberts is tied to the drug bust, seeing that the drug was found in Derrick’s luggage.

When the three appeared at the District B Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, Derrick, who hails from Glen and Roberts, who lives at Dorsetshire Hill, did not waste the court’s time and pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine, possession with intent to supply, trafficking and importation. The duo are expected back in court on Thursday, September 8, for sentencing.

Selman, on the other hand, pleaded not guilty to his offence and was granted bail in the sum of $7,500 with one surety. He reappears in court on Thursday, September 29.

Roberts is no stranger to conflicts with the law. On January 24, 2012, the disciplinary committee of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) in the United Kingdom (UK) ordered Roberts removed from the student register and that he pay costs of £340, after he was found guilty of a drug offence on February 18, 2011 in the Crown Court at Croydon, pursuant to the ACCA’s bye-law 8(a) (i).

Roberts, who at the time resided at Thamesmead, London, was found guilty by a Croydon court of being knowingly concerned in fraudulent evasion of prohibition or restriction on importation of Class A controlled drugs.

Roberts and Derrick are currently being held at Her Majesty’s Prison Dodds and bring to seven the number of Vincentians caught overseas with cocaine after managing to clear customs in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Edinboro residents Renrick Roger Richards and Ramon Rupert Horne and Belair resident Vernice Stowe were also nabbed earlier this year at the Grantley Adams International airport with cocaine. Richards and Horne were caught on May 31, while Stowe was held on June 6.

Caught in the UK were Hudson Kenuet Rohan Prescod, known locally as ‘Huddy,’ who was found with the illegal drug concealed in the false bottom of a suitcase at the Gatwick Airport on Sunday, April 17 and Bastien Corris Steve Dember, originally from Union Island who was also held at Gatwick with cocaine after he arrived on a flight from St Lucia on Monday, August 8.

Stowe paid the fine of Bds$50,000 imposed on her, while Richards and Horne, who were fined Bds$25,000, were unable to pay. SEARCHLIGHT was unable to ascertain the status of Prescod and Dember.(LC)