Minister of National Security Marvin Dames said that crime does not pay, while sending out a warning to criminals, particularly drug dealers who attempt to evade the law. 

The Minister, a former Deputy Commissioner of Police, repeated that no one is above the law, and that what you do will always catch up with you. He was reacting to the extradition of alleged drug lord Austin Ozzie Knowles Jr.  to the United States to face charges of drug smuggling. 

“It’s quite simple that crime doesn’t pay.

“We have a country to build and in order to build it, we need persons who clearly understand that it is going to take all hands-on deck and we cannot be selfish and we cannot be all for me in our quest to build our country,” Mr. Dames said.

When asked his thoughts on Knowles’ extradition, Mr. Dames said that the everyone is bound by the law. 

“We have laws on  the books and it is very important that when legislators legislate, they legislate because there is a need to and so whenever you have laws on the books, we all are bound by those laws. 

“And no one is above the law and that’s the reality. At the end of the day it doesn’t pay,” Mr. Dames said. 

Mr. Dames further cautioned other criminals or those that may not be abiding by the law. 

“Certainly, one may think that there is so much to gain and you may go on a run for a very long time, but after a while it all catches up with you

“So, it’s always good to know that you work hard,  you live honestly you respect others,  you respect the laws of your country and you be fair with others and things will be okay,” Mr. Dames said.

Fifteen plus years after the first handover request, Knowles was extradited to the United States last week. 

Knowles had been fighting extradition since 2003 when then Magistrate Carolita Bethel made  an  order. However Knowles and his co-accused were released on bail.

Knowles, who is alleged to have  been in the drug business since the 1980s, was picked up by U.S authorities back in December 2002 as part of operation Bluewater investigation.

U.S officials at the time said they had put one of the largest cocaine smuggling operations in The Bahamas out of business.