BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – IN light of the widely-spread rumour on the streets and the publication by some media outlets that agents of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are in St. Kitts and Nevis to investigate some citizens with large amounts of money in a certain bank, Police Commissioner Celvin ‘CG’ Walwyn has declared it far from the truth.
In a release today (Jun. 3) from the St. Kitts-Nevis Information Service (SKNIS), the Top Cop declared that there are three FBI agents in the Federation with the sole purpose of conducting a three-day training programme with members of the Security Forces.
He noted that St. Kitts and Nevis is a sovereign state and if any external agency wishes to conduct inquiries his office would have to be informed.
“As of date, I have not been notified of any investigation by any external agency and there are no FBI agents here conducting any investigations,” the release quoted the Commissioner as saying.
“We do have FBI agents here but they were invited by me, through the United States Department of Justice [Regional Legal Advisor for the Caribbean] Major Coleman to conduct some much needed training which is what we are doing this week. With reference to the allegations they are nil, they are void. There is no such investigation happening in the Federation,” he added.
The release noted that the three FBI agents are conducting a three-day training dubbed “Active Shooter and Intelligence Gathering Analysis” for supervisors in the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force and Her Majesty’s Customs and Excise Department.
It added that the course is in line with previous trainings conducted locally by the US agency, and that FBI agents had facilitated a Basic Homicide Investigation Course in the Federation some two years ago.
The Top Cop stated that the relationship between the local law enforcement body and agencies such as the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) remains very strong.
“We were the first agency in the Eastern Caribbean to have a Firearms Investigative Unit,” he explained, adding that because of this close collaboration, four active investigations had started concerning persons shipping guns to the Federation.
“With the FBI, as you can see, they are here and they are doing this training for free. So that just shows the extent of the cooperation that we have between the two agencies,” SKNIS quoted him as saying.
Just days ago, an article, headlined “Economic Citizenship Stirs Bank Search”, purportedly written by the owner of a local media house, claimed that an official of the US Department of State, under condition of anonymity, had confirmed that “America’s Justice Department is concerned about several Federation citizens who have bank accounts containing funds of up to eight figures – many times more than they could earn by working at their trade or profession”.
