PHILIPSBURG:--- A Colombian national who is also a Swedish national got a free pass from the office of the Attorney General and the Prosecutor's Office last week when the judge of instruction released the man because he was kept too long in early detention.
According to information provided to SMN News, the Colombian/Swedish national was passing through St. Maarten on his way to Paris when detectives on St. Maarten showed up at the Princess Juliana International Airport and arrested the man who is wanted by the USA.
SMN News learnt that the US Justice Department issued an international arrest warrant for the suspect whom they believe is involved in a drug related case. According to the information provided to SMN News, the man spent just over three days in early detention before he appeared before the judge of instruction, it is understood that the office of the Attorney General made some procedural errors by allowing the legal time frame to hold a suspect in early detention to elapse before they took him to the judge of instruction. When the judge learnt of the procedural error she ordered the immediate release of the suspect. However, the Attorney General of St. Maarten Taco Stein tried a different trick and issued a second arrest warrant to re- arrest the suspect as soon as he was released but the judge of instruction did not buy that tactic saying that the suspect could not be re-arrested after the Prosecutor's Office made such a blunder.
SMN News further learnt that the police even contacted IND to use their power to arrest the man whose name was not released because he has a possible criminal record and is wanted by another country but IND refused to arrest the man claiming that they do not have any grounds to arrest the man because he has an EU passport which gives him the right to spend as long as three months on St. Maarten.
SMN News learnt that the man who was an in-transit passenger is now on the island and law enforcement does not know if he left the island by other means.
Efforts made to reach Attorney General Taco Stein on Tuesday for a comment on the case proved futile as Stein could not be reached by telephone. Minister of Justice Dennis Richardson told SMN News that he was not informed of the case therefore he could not comment.