Royal Caribbean Cruises Ship Involved in Drug Smuggling
A Jamaican national failed to prove that he was not involved in the importation of cocaine into Bermuda in the Supreme Court yesterday.
Ricardo Stewart who worked as a waiter on the cruise ship Explorer of the Seas, operated by Royal Caribbean Cruises who provide many cheap Caribbean holidays, was standing trial for conspiracy with Adrian Morris to import cocaine worth up to three quarters of a million Dollars by using his position on the ship.
In the course of the investigation video showed Morris hiding the drugs in the disco on the ship. Morris admitted that he was involved and told investigators that Stewart was behind the scheme. Stewart did not admit his involvement.
Another employee on the same ship also arrested during the investigation stated that it was passengers who would carry the drugs between the ship and shore while crew members would then hide the drugs between ports of call. He said that Stewart was the one who liaised between the passengers and crew.
Even though there was no physical evidence, fingerprints, DNA or other, to link Stewart to the drugs, the prosecutor pointed out that it was Stewart that Morris went to as soon as he knew that the drugs had been discovered.
The defence for Stewart put forward that Morris could have lied to try to play down his involvement to get a shorter prison sentence. The defence also pointed out various differences in statements given by Morris particularly in the amount he said he was going to be paid for his part in the plot.
The jury took two hours to decide by a majority that Stewart was guilty as charged. He will be detained until he is sentenced.
Royal Caribbean Cruises have not commented on the case.
