PHILIPSBURG:--- Police on St. Maarten arrested a man identified as Rogelio Gregory Koeiman who is wanted in the United States of America in a drug investigation. Press prosecutor Tineke Kamps confirmed to SMN News on Monday that the suspect identified as R.G.K, (46) born in Aruba was arrested on the request of the US authorities. Prosecutor Kamps said the suspect is in custody pending extradition.
Kamps did not release the full name of the suspect when she was asked by SMN News, she said I cannot confirm or deny if its same person. Koeiman was arrested on Monday afternoon after American authorities submitted their request to St. Maarten. Koeiman and two other suspects were arrested in Curacao for exporting drugs to the USA. They were suspected of committing the crimes in 2012 and 2013. The drugs were shipped from St. Maarten and Curacao according to statements made by the DEA to authorities in Curacao. However, the three suspects were released on February 6th, 2014 by the courts in Curacao. Below is the story published when the courts in Curacao ordered their immediate release.
KOEIMAN, RIATWIJK AND FELICIA RELEASED --- US REQUEST FOR EXTRADITION REFUSED.
WILLEMSTAD, Curacao:--- The three suspects that were arrested based on a request from the DEA of New York to extradite three Curacaoleneans that they believed were involved in two huge shipments of drugs were released on Thursday, confirmed spokesman for the Attorney General of Curacao Norman Serphos.
In an interview with SMN News, Serphos said that the three suspects were arrested on October 3rd, 2013 after the DEA of New York requested that they be extradited to answer to charges related to the trafficking of drugs. The suspects are Ronchie Riatwijk (48), Gilbertico Felcia (35), and Rogelio Gregory Koeiman (45). The latter was the bodyguard of St. Maarten's Member of Parliament Romain Laville.
According to the decision rendered on Thursday, the panel consisting of three judges decided to release the suspects because the DEA infiltrated, investigated, observed, and used methods to find the suspects without informing Curacao's Prosecutor's Office or Attorney General. The second point the judges made in their decision is that after the arrests, the suspects were visited by agents of the DEA who offered them a plea bargain and that too Curacao's Prosecutor's Office had no knowledge about. The third reason for the immediate release of the suspects is that what was discussed with the suspects was not presented in a process verbal (PV) as required by Dutch law.
The judges ruled that since the three suspects are citizens of Curacao they should have been afforded more protection therefore they ordered the immediate release of the suspects wanted in the United States for shipping drugs to the USA, one of the shipments the DEA stated left from St. Maarten.
