WANTED!

A Vincentian man who reportedly died twice is still considered wanted by the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) and the Royal St.Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force.{{more}}

Up to yesterday, a photograph of 41-year-old Cecil Gregory Boatswain was still posted on INTERPOL’s most wanted list, even though reports out of Dominica claim that he died in 2006.

When contacted on Wednesday, January 19, 2011, Acting Commissioner of Police Bertie Pompey told SEARCHLIGHT in the absence of conclusive evidence showing that Boatswain had died, he is still wanted by the law enforcement officials here.

Boatswain, born December 4, 1969, is wanted primarily in the United States for counterfeiting/forgery, drug related crimes illegal traffic, and organized crime/transnational. A warrant for his arrest was first issued by the District of Maryland and the District of New York.

Boatswain disappeared without a trace in 2006, hours after the East Caribbean Court of Appeal sitting in Dominica upheld a decision that he be extradited to the USA to face drug trafficking charges.

A woman who was with him on the evening of November 13, 2006, at Brighton Salt Pond beach, reported that Boatswain went for a swim and never returned.

US authorities claim that Boatswain used women as mules to transport cocaine to New York, after women who were caught fingered him as the brains of the operation.

According to US law, anyone who exports more than four kilos of cocaine to the US is deemed a drug kingpin and would be liable to be sentenced to a maximum of life imprisonment if convicted.

Boatswain’s matter was first heard in the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court on May 4, 2006, where then Chief Magistrate Simone Churaman ruled that he be extradited to the US to face drug trafficking charges.

His legal team of Arthur and Richard Williams and the late Bertram Stapleton appealed the decision, but it was upheld by High Court Judge Frederick Bruce-Lyle on May 11, 2006. The matter was sent to the Court of Appeal on October 10, 2006. Following Boatswain’s disappearance here, a decomposing body, found in the Sultan area of Dominica in late December 2007, was said to be that of Boatswain.

At the time, Commissioner of Police Keith Miller told SEARCHLIGHT that after Boatswain’s disappearance here, his photograph was circulated all over the world by INTERPOL and the Vincentian police. Miller had disclosed that a preliminary identification of Boatswain’s body was made based on photographs and other documents sent to Dominica by the St.Vincent and the Grenadines police, after they heard that a body, believed to be Boatswain’s had been found. Miller, however, added that he was awaiting a forensic identification.

But, on Wednesday last week, Acting Commissioner of Police Pompey said that the local police here were never presented with the forensic identification. In January 2008, Director of Public Prosecutions Colin Williams, sharing his views on the discovery of a body in Dominica, believed to be Boatswain’s, said he did not know what the Dominican authorities had used for verification, because when the Vincentian authorities had earlier told them that Boatswain was in Dominica, they had denied it.

“They couldn’t find him. Now all of a sudden he turns up dead, a decomposing body at that,” Williams said then. The DPP had added that knowing Boatswain’s resources, he wouldn’t be surprised if he is found dead a third time.

Meanwhile, on the home front, on the police most wanted list are fugitives Oran Glasgow, 29, also known as Crown Rat or King Rat, and Wendell “Grindy” Oneil, 28, both of Vermont. The men are wanted in connection with a robbery. Irone “Deportee” Bascombe, who was also on the most wanted list, was caught by the police last Thursday.

SEARCHLIGHT has also learnt that a warrant has been issued in St.Lucia for the arrest of Vincentian National Juan Carlos Stapleton, 29 years, who was previously bailed to attend a Castries court, on Monday, February 2, 2009, to answer fraud charges.

He failed to appear then and has been on the run since then.

Police in Dominica are also still on the hunt for a Vincentian man who escaped the Stockfarm Prison in Dominica, since December, last year.

Bert Williams 24, escaped while playing basketball with other inmates. He is consider armed and dangerous.