The influential Bahamians who are behind a human trafficking ring are making sure a Haitian boat captain, arrested in a recent smuggling operation, doesn’t call their names.
35-year-old George Pdaex, captain of the Silvia Marie, was charged in Court 6, Parliament Street, with knowingly assisting Haitians to illegally land in Abaco, without leave of an immigration official.
The Haitian boat captain, whose boat ran aground near Abaco last week with 30 illegal immigrants on-board, has been arrested and denied bail.
Magistrate Carolyn Vogt-Evans yesterday ruled that Mr Pdaex had no legal status in The Bahamas and was a flight risk.
The magistrate came to that conclusion despite the fact that Mr Pdaex was born in The Bahamas and has never before appeared in front of a court in any jurisdiction.
After hearing submissions from the government prosecutors and Mr Pdaex’s defence attorney, Dennis Richard, Magistrate Vogt-Evans said the charges “are very serious charges considering the issues we’ve had in The Bahamas with illegal immigrants”.
“The fact that the defendant has no status at this time, I’m going to object to bail,” Vogt-Evans ruled.
Prosecutor and Grade Two Immigration Officer Kendal Rahming told the court that “even though he was born in The Bahamas, he has Haitian ties in Haiti and therefore could become a flight risk”.
Mr Rahming explained to Magistrate Vogt-Evans that the accused – born of Haitian parents – had a pending citizenship application which was filed on June 30, 2005, when Mr Pdaex was 30-years-old. Rahming said the application was still before the department’s Naturalisation and Citizenship Board.
It is ironic that, with all the Haitians that the FNM government has been granting Bahamian citizenship to recently, presumably to “clear up the backlog”, Mr Pdaex’s application for citizenship has been languishing in the Immigration department’s file case for five years.
Murderers, drug kingpins and rapists are almost always granted bail in The Bahamas, but not Mr Pdaex.
Why? Because Mr Pdaex could call the name of the prominent Bahamian citizens who are behind the largest human-trafficking ring in The Bahamas.
This situation in reminiscent of a similar incident that occurred in 2003.
Years ago, a Polish boat captain was hired by prominent Bahamians to smuggle illegal immigrants into the Bahamas. The intention was to then smuggle them into the United States.
Unfortunately for the boat captain, his boat broke down and he had to call for help.
Of course, when the Defence Force came to assist they arrested the captain and the people on his boat.
The Polish Captain, who could barely speak any English, was in a position to call the name of the prominent Bahamian he was working for.
To ensure that did not happen, the boat captain was denied bail and put in isolation in Fox Hill Prison. Despite his poor medical condition and his constant pleas for the medicine on his boat, he was denied medical treatment and eventually died in the Fox Hill jail.
The prominent Bahamians who are behind the human trafficking ring continued the smuggling of illegal immigrants with other boat captains.
It seems that history is repeating itself. The Bahamians involved in human trafficking apparently feel that enough time has elapsed, that no one will remember the incident with the Polish boat captain.
It is very likely that Mr Pdaex will languish in Fox Hill Prison until he “learns” not to talk, or perhaps he will suffer an unfortunate incident like the Polish ship captain did.
The prominent Bahamians who Mr Pdaex was working for have not yet been publicly named.
