Yacht crew still in police custody

While Barbadians have been anxiously awaiting the outcome of Monday’s high-profile drug bust, a prominent attorney says the police can detain suspects for a “reasonable time”.

Several people have been questioning why no one has been charged yet since more than two days have passed.

But the Queen’s Counsel told the Weekend Nation that there was no law that said suspects could only be held for that time.

“The law says reasonable time and what is reasonable depends on the circumstances – the pace of the investigation, whether the suspects are cooperating. All of those factors come into play.”

Last Monday, police discovered several bales of marijuana reportedly worth about $3 million on board the yacht Ecstasy, which is owned by the conglomerate Goddard Enterprises Limited (GEL).

Among the crew taken into custody were two company directors, one of whom was the captain of the yacht and an employee.

The attorney, who did not want to give his name because he was not involved in the case, said with four days gone since the parties were taken into custody, a defence lawyer could argue that the detention had become “unreasonable”.

“A defence lawyer could argue that all the evidence that could be gathered was gathered soon after the initial arrest and that they have not collected any further evidence to advance the investigations and therefore the detention is unreasonable; they are just holding people.”

However, he said, there was no 48 hours stipulation for detaining suspects. (MB)

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