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In 2001 the Bermuda press reported a former senior officer as referring to the Miranda enquiry as "what undoubtedly remains the largest and most serious crimes of conspiracy, drug trafficking, and money laundering ever conducted in the Bermuda Police Service."  The officer suggested the Serious Crimes Commission would 'derive considerable benefit from an examination of the circumstances surrounding the collapse of an investigation'.  The current Commissioner of police, Jonathan Smith, has also intimated that the enquiry may be reopened - we doubt it.  As every day passes, so many breath another sigh of relief as the importance of the case and the likelihood of reopening slowly fades away.

some additional documents appear here in pdf format:

The investigation collapsed in part due to the author of this site being hounded, unable to obtain support and resources.  The island lacked professional, dedicated, enthusiastic and competent officers.  It is also reasonable to assume we were getting too near to some people.

It was alleged that the head of the narcotics department was consorting with the US cocaine suppliers (who believed they had shot dead our informant) and that a a defence barrister was a cocaine addict, linked to the US suppliers.  the latter was reported to have wet himself in Bermuda police station when we met with him! Antonio Miranda was to be the barrister's business partner!

Ask yourself a question ... why, immediately before giving evidence in the case at Supreme Court #1,  was the author of this site informed that he was not to make any mention during the trial of the defence barrister's association because a deal had been done with t he defence; the barrister would not represent the subjects and the defence would not mention the association of the former head of narcotics, Dennis Ramsey?

Antonio Miranda, USA citizen - sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for cocaine trafficking

The arrest of Antonio Miranda led to what I believe is the Island's largest ever investigation into cocaine importation.   

The initial enquiry, which failed to arrest the suspects, is detailed and was held in a file at the Narcotics office under the heading 'Operation Flogger'.

'Flogger' resulted from an informant, the person who eventually gave us Antonio Miranda, indeed, 'Flogger' was the first attempt to capture part of the network however, not unreasonably, at the time the information was received, no one had any idea the information was as reliable as reported or that this was a network to be targeted.

That is not to say the subjects / suspects were unknown.  At least one report had been submitted to the narcotics department by a serving narcotics detective as intelligence.  The officer did not remain in the office long, his departure followed the submission of a report about the then head of Narcotics, Detective Chief Inspector Ramsey (click here to view a copy).

The very same officer had submitted his concerns about one of the 'players' associated with Miranda and a Bermudian solicitor.  His narcotics seizure report appears on this site (click here to view a copy).

With regard to the investigation which eventually netted Antonio Miranda, the American for whom Julian Hall (a Bermudian solicitor) had assisted in acquiring accommodation and represented in the early stages, Initial intelligence was reported under reference 15/90 on 26th February 1990.  A Drugs Intelligence Unit report was completed on 28th February 1990 under subject number DSF1V20:958

Photographs of the subjects were secured to include an aerial picture of the suspect property and a warrant obtained.

However, I believe it important to understand that 'flogger' was not the first link to the importers.  The enquiry's history has never been pursued.  The Miranda enquiry was, in general, the subject of poor co-ordination and failed to address the many links throughout the Island.

Simply put, the Bermuda people were given poor service by a police force which adopted a naive, narrow-minded approach to investigations.  The force was content to pick off the obvious conspirators but failed to address some major 'players' on the Island.  As a result, much corroboration was lost, many went unpunished (unidentified), some continued in their ways and cocaine continued to flow.  

Intelligence gathering was non-existent and that which had been collated was not pursued.  Whilst some convictions were achieved, Bermuda's reputation, their ability to deal with major issues, must have been viewed with amusement by those behind the importation of narcotics. 

These pages will deal with the investigation of the Miranda arrests, operation 'flogger' and the 1983 link to the importation into Bermuda of narcotics by a party associated with the Miranda arrests (1990).  It is my understanding the 1983 link has never been made public and that few within the Narcotics department were privy to this knowledge. 

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