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<\/p>\nOpposition leaders in\u00a0the Bahamas\u00a0are demanding an investigation into a suspected drug trafficker who\u00a0survived a recent plane crash\u00a0near Florida and was allegedly found with roughly $30,000, according to a U.S. federal agent. The money was inside a bag labeled with the name of an unidentified high-ranking politician from the archipelago.<\/p>\n
The suspect, who was deported to the Bahamas more than a decade ago after being convicted on drug and money laundering charges, is accused of trafficking cocaine through the Bahamas to the U.S.<\/p>\n
He also is accused of meeting the unnamed politician in October 2024 at the Bahamian Parliament in Nassau to talk about a deal involving some 2,200 pounds of cocaine, according to a court document filed May 14 in the Southern District of New York, a day after the plane crash. It stated that the politician \u201ccould provide security for the planned cocaine shipment\u201d and was introduced to an unnamed suspect as a \u201cfuture associate.\u201d<\/p>\n
The allegations are the latest blow to the Bahamas,\u00a0whose police commissioner resigned\u00a0in December 2024 after a sergeant and two officers were indicted in what the U.S. Justice Department at the time called \u201ca massive cocaine conspiracy enabled by corrupt Bahamian government officials.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michael Pintard, leader of the opposition Free National Movement party, claimed Monday that he does not believe the Bahamas\u2019 prime minister,\u00a0who secured reelection\u00a0the day of the plane crash, will hold anyone accountable.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe issued warnings about the close relationship between members of this administration and characters of interest to police locally and internationally,\u201d he told reporters.<\/p>\n
Latrae Rahming, spokesman for the office of the prime minister, shared a statement with The Associated Press on Tuesday noting that the government is taking the matter \u201cextremely seriously.\u201d It stated that local law enforcement will launch its own inquiry and that the government will reach out to U.S. officials to seek the sharing of information and obtain any available evidence, adding that it has received no official information identifying any public official related to the case.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe position of the Government of The Bahamas remains wherever wrongdoing is established, any person involved will be held accountable without fear or favor, and the chips will fall where they may,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent Michael Coleman asserted in his deposition that multiple drug trafficking organizations are ferrying loads \u201cunder the protection of local officials\u201d in the Bahamas.<\/p>\n
He alleged that the suspected drug trafficker who survived the plane crash owns a business he uses to \u201cbid on Bahamian government-issued construction contracts and launder his narcotics trafficking proceeds.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coleman said the suspect was one of 11 people who survived the crash off the coast of Florida late last week. He was rescued and later arrested.<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\t\tU.S. Air ForceU.S. Air Force<\/p>\n
U.S. Air Force crews respond after a plane crashed off Florida on May 12, 2026.<\/p>\n
The DEA agent said the agency has been investigating drug trafficking organizations operating in countries including\u00a0the Bahamas\u00a0since roughly 2022.<\/p>\n
Dr. Duane Sands, chairman of the Free National Movement party, told The Nassau Guardian newspaper on Monday that the current administration was bringing shame and embarrassment to the Bahamas as he called for a commission of inquiry.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Bahamian people are entitled to know,\u201d he was quoted as saying. \u201cThe heart and soul of our country are at stake.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Opposition leaders in\u00a0the Bahamas\u00a0are demanding an investigation into a suspected drug trafficker who\u00a0survived a recent plane crash\u00a0near Florida…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":277462,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-277461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}