Above: District Court in St Thomas

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Federal agents have arrested a police officer in the United States Virgin Islands as part of an investigation into alleged drug trafficking by a official in the government’s planning department.

US Attorney for the District of the Virgin Islands and several federal agencies announced the arrest of police officer Angelo Hill on Friday as part of a probe into Roberto Tapia, director of enforcement at the VI Department of Planning and Natural Resources.

Hill has been charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine.

Tapia was arrested last week.

Hill appeared in court Friday in St Thomas before US Magistrate Judge Ruth Miller, and was ordered to be held without bail pending a detention hearing May 28.

Two other defendants were arrested on May 18 as part of the drug conspiracy investigation in the USVI, which, like fellow US territory Puerto Rico, has seen an upsurge in drug trafficking in recent years.

If convicted, Hill faces a statutory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison.

Assistant US Attorneys Kim Linquist and Kelly Lake are prosecuting the case.