19 Oct 2005

Major cocaine bust in Marshalls

8:05 pm on 19 October 2005

A 57-year-old Marshall Islands woman has been denied bail after she was caught with 20 kilogrammes of cocaine valued in the US at about 2.5 million US dollars.

A judge in Majuro says Meriba Bulele, who is accused of distributing the drug to dealers, is a danger to the public.

Two other Marshall Islanders and two American workers from the US army base at Kwajalein have also been arrested.

When police interviewed Bulele on Carlos Island two weeks ago, she denied any knowledge of cocaine.

She was taken by police to Ebeye for further questioning while police dug up the 20 kilos of cocaine that was buried in plastic bags on Carlos Island.

Police say the cocaine was part of a larger amount that Bulele and her husband Raynold, who committed suicide last month, brought back from a boat that was loaded with cocaine and washed into a small island near Carlos in March last year.