ROAD TOWN, Tortola, VI — The legal battle surrounding one of the British Virgin Islands’ major recent cocaine seizures is far from over, after the Commissioner of Police moved to appeal a Senior Magistrate’s decision to dismiss charges against five men accused in the case.
The Police Commissioner, through the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), filed a notice of appeal in the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court on Thursday, September 10, challenging Senior Magistrate Tamia Richards’ decision to uphold a no-case submission and dismiss charges against the five accused.
The men were charged with importation of a controlled drug and possession of a controlled drug with intent to supply.
The notice of appeal describes the Magistrate’s decision as “unreasonable” and contends that it cannot be supported by the evidence presented during the trial.
The five men are Cesar Diaz Abrahim and Ronald James, both of Trinidad and Tobago; Joel Santana Santos and Francisco Mejia Ortiz, both of the Dominican Republic; and Candido Rois Quezada of St Kitts and Nevis.
The men were among six people arrested after police intercepted the cargo vessel C Elizabeth II near Virgin Gorda on December 9, 2025.
According to evidence presented in court, police officers approached the vessel during the early morning hours after spotting it at sea. Officers testified that they observed several people moving rapidly on deck and throwing packages overboard.
Police subsequently recovered 32 bags from the sea, while three additional bricks of suspected cocaine were reportedly discovered aboard the vessel.
Six people were taken into custody when the vessel was brought to Port Purcell.
The sixth accused, Jermife Toribio Vasquez, who reportedly captained the vessel, pleaded guilty to the charges.
The five others pleaded not guilty and proceeded to trial, which began in May.
Identification evidence under scrutiny
A central issue in the case was whether the prosecution could establish that the five defendants knew about, possessed or exercised control over the drugs.
Defence attorney E. Leroy Jones challenged the identification evidence, arguing that police officers could not reliably establish which of the men aboard the vessel were responsible for throwing the packages into the sea.
Questions were raised about the distance between the police vessel and the cargo ship, the early-morning lighting conditions and the difference in height between the two vessels.
During cross-examination, one police witness acknowledged that although he had seen more than three people throwing items overboard, he could not identify which individuals were responsible.
Jones argued that the prosecution had therefore failed to establish a sufficient case against his clients.
Senior Magistrate Richards ultimately upheld the defence’s no-case submission and dismissed the charges against the five men, bringing the criminal proceedings before the Magistrate’s Court to an end.
Defence calls appeal “frivolous and vexatious”
Despite the dismissal, the men reportedly remain in custody, a development that has prompted strong criticism from their attorney.
Jones described the Commissioner’s appeal as “frivolous and vexatious” and questioned the continued detention of his clients now that the criminal charges against them have been dismissed.
“My clients do not have any status in the country,” Jones says on behalf of his clients. “They were brought in from the middle of the ocean on the high seas more than 12 nautical miles of the BVI coast.”
He argued that the men have no immigration status, work permits or accommodation in the Territory and should not continue to be held while the prosecution pursues its appeal.
“They have succeeded and have no more criminal charges against them,” Jones said. “They have no immigration rights to be here. They don’t have work permits; they never have. They have no place to stay and they cannot remain in custody because they are free.”
Jones maintained that continuing to hold the men would be “manifestly unfair” and “wholly unreasonable” under the circumstances.
“Keeping them in custody to accommodate the DPP would be manifestly unfair, manifestly unjustifiable and wholly unreasonable in all the circumstances,” he said.
He also pointed to a previous attempt to keep defendants in custody in circumstances he said were similar, arguing that the approach had not succeeded.
“They can’t keep them here,” Jones said.
Case now moves to the Court of Appeal
The Commissioner is now asking the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court’s Court of Appeal to overturn Magistrate Richards’ decision.
The appeal places the evidentiary issues that led to the dismissal back before the courts, including whether the prosecution had presented sufficient evidence linking the five men to the cocaine allegedly thrown from the vessel and recovered from the sea.
For now, however, the Magistrate’s dismissal remains the operative decision in the case, while the appeal process unfolds.
The matter places renewed attention on the BVI’s role in the regional fight against drug trafficking and, equally, on the evidentiary burden facing prosecutors when seeking to secure convictions in major maritime drug cases.