Bahamasair flight attendant on the run after smuggling $100K seized at Cap-Haïtien airport, source says | BREAKING NEWS
Haitian police arrested two people in the suspected money laundering case, marking the fifth Cap-Haïtien airport crime-related arrest in a week.
by Onz Chéry Mar. 04, 2025
THE HAITIAN TIMES
Overview:
Agents from the Haitian police special unit Brigade for the Fight against Drug Trafficking (BLTS) seized more than $100,000 at Hugo Chavez Cap-Haitien International Airport from a Bahamasair flight arriving from Nassau on March 1. Two suspects were arrested, but the flight attendant who allegedly handed over the bag of money fled back to Nassau before authorities could detain her.
CAP-HAÏTIEN, Haiti — Agents from Haiti’s Brigade for the Fight against Drug Trafficking (BLTS) intercepted more than $100,000 at Hugo Chavez Cap-Haïtien International Airport from a Bahamasair flight on March 1, a source familiar with the case told The Haitian Times.
Police apprehended a Haitian man and woman, Lucken Clervilus and Erilène Bernadin, as suspects connected to the case. However, the flight attendant who allegedly handed Clervilus the bag of cash avoided arrest by quickly boarding the return flight to Nassau before investigators could detain her, according to a source who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized by their employer to discuss the matter publicly.
Authorities have not disclosed the flight attendant’s identity, and her whereabouts remain unknown. The Haitian National Police (PNH) have yet to comment on the case, but Arold Jean, the spokesperson for the Northern Department, said he plans to hold a press conference and provide the details on March 5.
Bahamasair, an airline wholly owned by the Bahamian government, operates flights between Nassau and Cap-Haïtien. According to sources at Hugo Chavez International Airport, the cash seized by the PNH special agents originated from Nassau.
Bahamasair’s manager in Cap-Haïtien denied The Haitian Times’ request for an interview.
Ongoing security crackdown at Cap-Haïtien airport
Police have recently intensified security at Cap-Haïtien’s airport following reports of fake visas, counterfeit tickets and other fraudulent activities. The latest arrests bring the total number of detentions at the airport to at least five in the past week.
On Feb. 23, authorities arrested Cald Philippe, an immigration agent accused of making a woman pay for a ticket to Providenciales, Turks and Caicos, with a fake visa. That same day, police also detained an unidentified suspect for allegedly taking a photo of an immigration officer on duty and sending it to gang members.
On Feb. 22, police arrested Kenelson Viléus for allegedly selling counterfeit plane tickets. Viléus denied the accusations, according to local journalist Gérard Maxineau.
Authorities continue to investigate the money laundering case and broader security concerns at the Cap-Haïtien airport, which has been the only facility operating for commercial flights to and from the United States since Nov. 12, 2024.
Haiti’s largest international airport, Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, has been banned by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) after gangs opened fire on three U.S.-based carriers, including Spirit Airlines, American Airlines and JetBlue Airways.
Editor’s Note: This is a developing story. Stay tuned for updates as more information becomes available.
1959: The Year That Inflamed the Caribbean
Diederich, Bernard
Certain years are pivotal in global history, and one such year was 1959, from which this book takes its title. 1959 was indeed a historic year during which, among other historic events, Fidel Castro’s guerrilla war in Cuba toppled dictator Fulgencio Batista.
This intriguing book, drawn from the pages of the author’s English-language weekly newspaper, the Haiti Sun, and from his notebooks, provides a journalist’s firsthand look at Papa Doc’s reaction—at first easing, then tightening even more brutally his tyrannical rule. Diederich then traces the ensuing impacts on Haiti’s relations with the U.S., other Caribbean nations, the rest of the Western Hemisphere, and the international community.
1959 is a historically compelling book that traces a pivotal year that began with Fidel Castro’s victory in Cuba, which triggered reverberations that changed the Caribbean.
Bernard Diederich covered Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean as a correspondent for Time magazine. Diederich was also an eyewitness to the end of the guerrilla war and the triumph of the Cuban Revolution. He secured the first interviews with Comandante Camilo Cienfuegoes and with Raul Castro after Cuban revolutionaries entered Havana, and he attended Fidel Castro’s first press conference. He is the author of Trujillo: The Death of a Dictator, Papa Doc and the Tonton Macoutes, and several other books featured by Markus Wiener.
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Subject: Caribbean, Caribbean Surveys, Cuba, Dominican Republic/Haiti, Latin America
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State Dept. Plans to Close Diplomatic Missions and Fire Employees Overseas
American officials, including in the C.I.A., are concerned about mass closures hampering national security work. And China has overtaken the United States in global diplomatic footprint.
March 6, 2025Updated 5:48 p.m. ET
THE HAITIAN TIMES
The reductions at the State Department are part of both President Trump’s larger slashing of the federal government and his “America First” foreign policy.
Senior State Department officials have drawn up plans to close a dozen consulates overseas by this summer and are considering shutting down many more missions, in what could be a blow to the U.S. government’s efforts to build partnerships and gather intelligence, American officials say.
The department also plans to lay off many local citizens who work for its hundreds of missions. Those workers make up two-thirds of the agency’s work force, and in many countries they form the foundation of U.S. diplomats’ knowledge of their environments.
The shrinking is part of both President Trump’s larger slashing of the federal government and his “America First” foreign policy, in which the United States ends or curtails once-important ways of exercising global influence, including through democracy, human rights and aid work.
The moves come at a time when China, the main rival of America, has overtaken the United States in number of global diplomatic posts. China has forged strong ties across nations, especially in Asia and Africa, and exerts greater power in international organizations.
Any broad shutdowns of missions, especially entire embassies, would hinder the work of large parts of the federal government and potentially compromise U.S. national security.
Embassies house officers from the military, intelligence, law enforcement, health, commerce, trade, treasury and other agencies, all of whom monitor developments in the host nation and work with local officials to counter everything from terrorism to infectious disease to collapsing currencies.