PHILIPSBURG:— Police arrested a senior customs officer identified as Nestor Sanchez aka Kora on Thursday afternoon in an ongoing investigation. Customs officer Sanchez was arrested shortly after a drug bust on Insel Air that was traveling from Curacao to St. Maarten.
SMN News learnt that police and customs were at the airport when they searched the aircraft but they did not arrest the senior officer at the airport, instead the arrest was made somewhere in Cole Bay. “We saw the police taking Sanchez out of a car when they arrested him,” one eye witness told SMN News.
SMN News learnt that the customs officer was taken out of a car in the Cole Bay area.
Attorney General Taco Stein said he did not know of the case and that the only thing he knew was that police was busy investigating a case. Stein said the person to release information on the arrest of the customs officer is police spokesman Ricardo Henson who could not be reached by telephone. Press Prosecutor Tineke Kamps also refused to confirm or deny the arrest of the customs officer. “I will not confirm or deny this, you need to speak with Henson on this matter,” Prosecutor Kamps said.
Customs Officer Arrested.
On Thursday January 30, 2014 during a search by the Police Corps Sint Maarten (KPSM) on the Princess Juliana International Airport, in cooperation with Customs Department, a large batch of narcotics was seized. A customs officer was also arrested for his possible involvement in this case. An amount of drugs was seized during a search conducted in his home. The investigation is being conducted by the Police Narcotic Department.
Rectification from KPSM
In the late police report of January 30th, 2014 regarding the arrest of a customs officer who is suspected of being involved in an illegal drug investigation, it states that during a search of the home of the suspect an amount of drugs was found. This is not the case. Drugs were only found at the airport and not at his home.
Bron: SMN Netork