Federal officials have charged four individuals on St. Thomas with possession with intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine, in relation to a large bust Sept. 11.
According to the arrest affidavit filed Sept. 19 in U.S. District Court on St. Thomas, undercover agents arranged a purchase after one of the four suspects: Ignacio “Papo” Batis-Joseph, contacted an undercover agent and said "his boss, an unknown man of Dominican origin, had received a shipment of 100 kilograms cocaine available for purchase."
On Sept. 11 around 3:30 p.m., an agent met with Batis-Joseph and two other men, Omar James-Byar and Eldry Santos-Guzman, in Crown Bay Marina on St. Thomas, the affidavit says. During the meeting the three defendants allegedly "produced a bag containing approximately 10 rectangular packages weighing a total of 11.16 kilograms of cocaine."
During questioning, all three defendants "identified Miguel Bautista as the owner of the cocaine" and said Bautista had another 80 kilograms stashed at his Kronprindsens Gade residence.
Police executed a search warrant at the address around 9:10 p.m. Sept. 11 and found 64 bricks of cocaine with a total weight of 72.6 kilos, according to the affidavit. Police arrested Batis-Joseph, James-Byar, Santos-Guzman and Miguel Arias-Ramirez, the stepson of Miguel Bautista, who was in the apartment at the time of the raid. Bautista was not arrested.
