‘Release me, I’m the head of government’
THE premier of the British Virgin Islands has demanded his immediate release from US custody, saying he is immune from prosecution on cocaine-smuggling charges because he is the elected, constitutional head of government of the British overseas territory. A lawyer for Andrew Fahie made the request in a filing with Miami federal court.
Fahie, 51, was arrested last week during a US drug enforcement administration sting as he was preparing to board a private jet in Miami. According to a criminal complaint, Fahie and Oleanvine Maynard, his ports director, had been at the airport to meet people they thought were Mexican drug traffickers but in reality were undercover DEA agents.
The arrest shocked the British
Virgin Islands, where Fahie was already facing allegations of widespread corruption, and seemed to bolster calls to suspend the constitution for two years to clean up government and return to home rule by officials from London.