Nassau, Bahamas – A 37-year-old Bahamian national and airplane pilot could spend the next 20 years in prison following his conviction Friday for narcotics distribution.
A jury in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia found Darren Ferguson guilty of transporting multiple tons of cocaine from Colombia and marijuana from Jamaica through drug routes in Jamaica and Haiti for ultimate delivery to the United States.
The charges against Ferguson arose from evidence obtained during Operation Busted Manatee, a 29 month-long international Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force investigation into cocaine and marijuana trafficking, conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration and other federal, state and local law enforcement, working with partners in six foreign countries.
A grand jury returned the indictment against Ferguson on Feb. 4, 2004, charging him with conspiracy to manufacture or distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine and one thousand kilograms or more of marijuana; and knowing and intending for the narcotics to be imported into the United States. The indictment was unsealed on June 23, 2004.
Ferguson was arrested on April 13, 2005, in Jamaica and extradited to the United States on Feb. 3, 2006. Ferguson is scheduled to be sentenced on September 8th before Judge Gladys Kessler.
