Local mother jailed in Trinidad for drug smuggling

| 27/05/2011

(CNS): A 42-year-old Caymanian mother of two children has been sent to jail for 18 months in Trinidad, according to reports in the local press. Bridget Ebanks, a vegetable farmer, pleaded guilty to charges of attempting to export and being in possession of cocaine. Ebanks reportedly told the Trinidadian magistrate that business in the Cayman Islands was very slow and she was given two packages to deliver to someone in the country. In passing sentence, Magistrate Joan Gill said incidents of this nature were too prevalent in Trinidad, which is being used as a transshipment centre for illegal narcotics. Gill said a custodial sentence was most appropriate since the court must send a clear message that drug trafficking will not be tolerated.

The Trinidad Express reported that court prosecutor Sgt Fitzgerald Johnson said officers from the Organised Crime, Narcotics and Firearms Bureau were on duty at the airport last Thursday when they decided to search Ebanks. They  found two packages hidden in her underwear which contained 337.9 grams of cocaine.

At the time of her arrest, Ebanks was returning to the Cayman Islands after a short vacation in Trinidad.

See article here

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  1. noname says:

    Why would it be in any way relevant that she is a mother?

    If it was a man that had been arrested would you write that he was a father in the headline? Hardly.

    BTW She is a drug smuggler caught smuggling drugs, so to say that she was returning from a "short vacation" is ridiculous.

  2. Anonymous says:

    What is interesting to read in the various posts in this thread is how many people were aware of her criminal past and activities.

    One can only wonder if the same common knowledge exists for other Caymanian criminals but people are more afraid to share what they know when the people are not in prison in another country.

    • Rorschach says:

      No one is really afraid o share what they know about a  persons background…point is…you can't really convict someone on their "Background"..

  3. Anonymous says:

    The article in Trinidad has her name a Bridget E. Banks not Bridget Ebanks.

    Anyway,knowing the kind of person she is, i am glad they caught her. She thought this would be like another "vacation" at Fairbanks.

  4. Anonymous says:

    Sad, very sad but she was always a very daring and ambitious girl.  She was supposed to be in England not in Trinidad.  She always boasted about making it big but sad to say, she could be big history, never to see her lovely daughters again.  Bye Bridgette,  R.I.P.

  5. Anonymous says:

    Coincidence. The Premier was there at the same time. HA! HA!

  6. Anonymous says:

    Dah wah ya get BoBo…..shoulda been 18 years.  Thank God T and T have a diligent and credible Police Force and a Legal system that actually functions and at a much more efficient and higher standard than what we have here. 

    I bet her 18 month staycation there won't be quite as luxurious as what is offered at Northward!!!!!  Hopefully it will be a deterrent to her and others in the future but……………….I seriously doubt it…..at any rate with Mad Mac's connections maybe he could wave his wand and help her out but ……she will be back by election time anyway so why bother!!!!

    • Anonymous says:

      Maybe the RCIPS should adopt the same methodsas the T & T Police? An interesting idea for all the folks here who cry "oppression" when they get a parking ticket.

  7. Anonymous says:

    Perfect timing Bridget getting arrested and charged for drug smuggling while the Premier is attending a Finance Conference in Trinadad and quest speaker for the conference, plus being nominated for the Chairman of the Caribbean Fiance Committee at the same time.

    Was this planned????

  8. Anonymous says:

    Cayman a waypoint? More like the destination. Everybody in the clubs are on it. it's so obvious.

  9. Anonymous says:

    CNN, umm it wasn't really a vacation she was on.  NOW she's on vacation.

  10. Bradee's Gremlin says:

    RIP Randy Savage but i have to say OOOOH Yeahhhhhh can you dig it. West Bay Station is going to be a lonely place without you girl! Tony Rebel ya too chatty chatty .

  11. Gillud's Varmit says:

    Poor old Bridget packing heat in her drawers seat.Now she has to go jail because she has failed to understand than she still only working for the man. Where is your mentor waiting in vain for the Big Score! Dat il learn ya

  12. Kirtmarlun's Pet says:

    The byes cant help u now, lesson 1 before trying to keep up with the bushes,be sure they are not trying to keep up with you.18 years should be sentence for all concern in this unfortunate matter it is a very troubling situation though, makes you really understand the transnational links of the drug trade Careful Cayman what & who you import into this island. There here 4 us remember????

  13. anonymous says:

    The Trinidad Express reported that Ebanks had 337.9 grams of cocaine hidden in her underwear……………….sorry to say but if i was a coke user no way in gods green earth would i snort any of that.

  14. Anonymous says:

    Good for her. She should make the rest of our other local thugs proud!

     

  15. Loren says:

    There is way more to this news story than what we read, maybe it's now time for some investigative journalism but then again the somethings are better not revealed ……….

  16. Anonymous says:

    she didn't need to go to T&T to get coke; but now that she has, let her face the consequences of her actions.

  17. Anonymous says:

    A tragic aspect of the Bridget Ebanks story is that she is a mother and has a child.

    Hopefully there are other family members to care for this child.

    • Anonymous says:

      Aw, yes, I hope someone is caring for her wee little ones. I'm sure they are missing their mommy. I'm sure she is a very caring mother when she is not forced into being a drug mule because of the horrible economy and she doesn't have a steady job.

      • Anonkymous says:

        No wee little ones people – – – her daughters are both grown and thanks to Bridget's lifestyle have been their own bosses for many, many years. She's been in jail more than out since they were born (if I am not mistaken, one was actually born IN Northward…)

         

         

         

  18. Anonymous says:

    Is this the same lady who has spent many years of her life in Northward for drug offences?

  19. Anonymous says:

    A few years ago it was unheard of Caymanians being drug mules,now the Cayman Islands are on the list,this is just the beginning ladies and gentlemen,brace for more of this in the neatr future.

    • Anonymous says:

      It was unheard of but was still going on. Cayman has been used as a waypoint for cocaine smuggling from S America to the UK for years.

      Ship it from Honduras and fly it to the UK.

      Were 3 Caymanians not arrested in London on importation charges and 1 Caymanian customs officer suspended, a few months ago?

      • Anonymous says:

        What ever happened to that Customs officer? I haven’t seen anything in the media.

        CNS can you help do some digging?

  20. Anonymous says:

    Lmao even the drug carriers  is complaining that business isnt good in Cayman . Whats wrong with this picture.

  21. Anonymous says:

    Sad story.

    Hopefully the other conspirators in Cayman who were to receive the drugs will also be charged and convicted. I know that it is a lot to hope for, but hopefully we can start seeing some arrests of those farther up the ladder and not just the little fry. I cannot think of a single case in the last 25 years in which those who finance these deals have been arrested let alone charged.

    • Anonymous says:

      Why do you think the drugs was connected to Cayman; Bridget has been living in the UK for the last 3 years, as I understand it she flew from the UK to Trinidad and was going back to the UK with the drugs; now tell me how Cayman is involve, couldnt she be working for someone in the UK.

      For those you think this is new for Caymanians to be caught smugglings drugs from overseas, they are so wrong, Caymanians have been doing this for a very long time, with some serving prison time in the USA and Jamaica, it is just that we used to sweep it under the carpert and only immediate family members would know, and if you had not seen the individual for sometime and enquired from family, they would tell you "oh he/she is in the states".  But things and time has change, we now have the internet, where a lot of us can read for ourselves and dont have to rely on reprinted news.

      • Anonymous says:

        At the time of her arrest, Ebanks was returning to the Cayman Islands after a short vacation in Trinidad. 

        That says it all about how Cayman came into play….you need to read and comprehend the article…..


         

      • Anonymous says:

        Thank you for speaking the truth, because the attitude of some Caymanians and some media houses,and residents alike, is to spread it abroad when it is some other nationals from some other countries, but when its one of our own we tend to keep it in the closet.

    • Anonymous says:

      This woman is a tiny cog in a big wheel. Why not offer to release her if she will name the person for whom she was working.

  22. Anonymous says:

    RCIP, Legal Dept, and Magistrates; notice the timeframe, caught last Thursday, tried convicted and in goal, one week later, and that is the end of that, next case please.

  23. Anonymous says:

    How come Trinidad can deal with matters so swiftly and here they drag on forever??? She was searched last week Thursday and has already been sentenced? Wow!

  24. Anonkymous says:

    "Vegetable Farmer"…..HAHAAHAHHAAAAAAAA! Yeh, she grows "veggies" alright!! Green and leafy and WILD!

    Things hard in Cayman but she could "vacation" in TnT? Nah so, my friend – this is another classic case of a mule trip bringing back drugs to ruin this country. I am amazed that she could travel in the first place – – – history being what it is.

    Not sorry this one bit the dust. At least the system works in other countries…doubt they would have caught her here. Oh and before sympathy factor sets in – her kids are adults, one is/was married – so it's not like they've been deprived of a caring mother.

    Justice prevails somewhere in the world…just notin Cayman…

  25. Anonymous says:

    Maybe you should put the full  name cns,I had an embaressment like that before,Im sure it is a lot of Bridgett Ebanks in Cayman. 

    • Kung Fu Iguana says:

      By "a lot" you mean "possibly more than one". 

      If so, are you called Bridgets Ebanks?  Are you in jail in Trinidad?  If the answers to this are "Yes" and then "No" then you are not the Bridgett Ebanks that the story is about.

    • Anonymous says:

      Can someone plz tell me why i should get thumbs down for this? dam fools!

      • Thomas Thumb says:

        No 1 Rule of Thumb of CNS : Do not ask why you get "thumbs down".

        No 2 Rule of Thumb of CNS : Asking why you got a "thumbs down" is one of the best ways to get more of them.

  26. Caymanian Boat Captain says:

    She should have got 18 years with hard labour in T & T instead of 18 months.

    • Anonymous says:

      I don’t think T&T wants the responsibility of feeding her for the next 18 years. Cayman take a page….feed for a short time and deport…MOVING ON!