NASSAU, BAHAMAS – A senior Bahamian police officer, arrested in Florida on drug and firearms charges, has implicated a high-ranking Bahamian politician in a $2 million conspiracy to authorize law enforcement assistance for cocaine shipments to the United States.
Chief Superintendent Elvis Nathaniel Curtis, a veteran law enforcement officer who oversaw aviation operations for the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) and supervised security at airport locations across The Bahamas, is accused of using his position to facilitate drug trafficking. According to the indictment, Curtis accepted bribes from traffickers in exchange for providing safe passage for their operations involving multi-ton cocaine shipments to the US via go-fast vessels, yachts, and fishing boats.
The explosive allegations are detailed in a grand jury indictment naming 13 defendants, including Curtis, other law enforcement officers, a Bahamian government official, and drug traffickers from The Bahamas and Colombia. The indictment outlines a sophisticated smuggling operation that transported cocaine from South America, through The Bahamas, and into the US between May 2021 and November 2024.
The indictment alleges that Curtis and his co-conspirators played a key role in securing law enforcement support for drug trafficking. In one instance, “in or about September 2024, Curtis said that in exchange for $2 million US, a high-ranking Bahamian politician whom Curtis named would authorize the assistance and involvement of Bahamian law enforcement officials—including armed RBPF officers—in facilitating and ensuring cocaine shipments.”
The grand jury indictment also alleges that Curtis and other corrupt officials “provided sensitive law enforcement information to drug traffickers, protected them from investigation and arrest, and helped with the logistics of moving massive shipments of cocaine through The Bahamas en route to distribution in the United States.”
“The corrupt officials have, for example, provided warnings to cocaine traffickers when the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) was carrying out operations in The Bahamas so that traffickers could protect their cocaine shipments from interdiction and themselves from investigation and arrest,” the document states.
The indictment alleges that traffickers smuggled tons of cocaine through Bahamian airports and seaports, with Curtis leveraging his position to supervise these movements. The shipments reportedly moved through the Lynden Pindling International Airport and remote airstrips under Curtis’s jurisdiction, aided by bribes from traffickers.
On October 18, 2023, Curtis and Sergeant Prince Albert Symonette allegedly accepted a $10,000 cash bribe as a down payment to assist in a planned 600-kilogram cocaine shipment through Lynden Pindling International Airport.
The increase in cocaine trafficking through The Bahamas, according to the indictment, “has been a direct result of drug-fueled corruption that has infected various Bahamian institutions. More specifically, since at least in or about May 2021, corrupt high-ranking members of the RBPF and other Bahamian government officials have worked with Colombian and Bahamian drug traffickers to facilitate the receipt, protection, and safe passage of massive shipments of cocaine.”
The 13 defendants named in the indictment include Chief Superintendent Elvis Nathaniel Curtis; Sergeant Prince Albert Symonette; Ricardo Adolphus Davis purported to be a Bahamian government official; Chief Petty Officer Darrin Alexander Roker of the Royal Bahamas Defense Force; William Simeon, also known as Harvey Smith, William Jacques, Romeo Russell, and Dario Rolle; Theodore Nathaniel Adderley, also known as Blue; Joshua McDonald Scavella, also known as Cow; Columbians Lorielmo Steele-Pomare, also known as Steele and Luis Fernando Orozco-Toro; Davon Revion Khaim Rolle; Darren Arthur Ferguson, also known as Hubba; Domonick Delancy; and Donald Frederick Ferguson II, also known as DJ and Billy.
A statement from Commissioner of Police Clayton Fernander noted: “It has come to my attention that Chief Superintendent Elvis Curtis and Chief Petty Officer Darren Roker were arrested in Florida yesterday (Monday) and will be transported to federal court in New York for trial. They have been charged with conspiracy to import cocaine, possession and use of firearms, and firearms conspiracy. Additionally, Sergeant Prince Albert Symonette, a pensioner of the RBPF, has also been named in the indictment. Sergeant Symonette will be suspended from duty effective immediately. As more information becomes available, updates will be provided to the public.”
Prime Minister Philip Davis is expected to deliver a communication in Parliament today on the recently filed indictment.
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