PHILIPSBURG--The Judge of Instruction remanded former head of St. Maarten National Security Service VDSM J.A.J.R. (41) to eight more days in Police custody on Friday.
The Prosecutor’s Office petitioned the Judge for the suspect to remain in pre-trial detention in light of the ongoing investigation.
J.A.J.R. is suspected of embezzlement, which took place from January 2011 till mid-2013 and money laundering (from January 2011 till July 19, 2016). The amount involved is tagged at NAf. 800,000.
The investigation is “in full swing,” according to the Prosecutor’s Office.
J.A.J.R. was arrested on July 19, by members of the National Detective Agency assisted by Police. His house in Ebenezer was also searched in connection with the ongoing investigation called “Tarpon,” led by the National Detective Agency.
A search was also done at a hotel room and at a moving company. Documents, money, valuables, a car and data carriers were confiscated. No one at either the hotel or the moving company is suspected in the investigation.
The National Detective Agency has been busy since mid-2015 with the Tarpon investigation. The long duration of the investigation is, among other things, due to the fact that when the investigation started, the National Detective Agency had a very limited capacity, and was constantly confronted with other large-scale and time-consuming investigations.
The Tarpon investigation is also targeted on recovering proceeds of crime, and it is the first time that the National Detective Agency is conducting such an investigation.
