PHILIPSBURG--Eighteen persons were arrested by police July 13-14 in an ongoing human-smuggling case being investigated by the Prosecutor’s Office.
The arrests concern a group that was smuggling persons via St Maarten to the U.S. Virgin Islands and were made at three locations, according to the police report issued on Thursday. Searches were carried out at two of the locations. Money, documents and phones were confiscated in the searches.
Of those arrested, 12 were persons poised to be smuggled to the U. S. Virgin Islands. They were transferred to the Immigration and Border Protection Service IGD and are in detention. The remaining six persons have been placed in preventive custody by police.
The investigation was “unprecedented,” as it utilised the skills and competencies of the multidisciplinary team established in March 2015 to tackle human trafficking and smuggling, stated the police report. The team, under the responsibility of the Police Force, comprised IGD, Royal Military Police (Marechaussees) and the Police Force.
