The Royal Saint Lucia Police Force is in possession of what appeared to be the remains of a fishing vessel recovered off the coast of Micoud on February 18. The discovery comes amid ongoing investigations into the disappearance of a Saint Lucian man, Ricky Joseph, whose family believes he may have been caught in a recent US military strike in the Caribbean.
Joseph’s family has since filed a missing person report, prompting law enforcement to examine whether there may be any connection between his disappearance and the recovered vessel.
“This exhibit, if I should say, is now in the custody of the police. Our interest in this vessel is due to the fact that, again, the family assertions are that Ricky Joseph may have been a passenger aboard this vessel, whether as a crew member or a worker,” explained Assistant Commissioner of Police Luke Defreitas.
He made it clear that police are treating the matter solely as a missing person report.
“At this point, I want to stress that our interest in this vessel is strictly related to the report of the missing person that has been made. We are pursuing information that the disappearance, to date, of Mr Ricky Joseph may have some alignment to the vessel.”
When Defreitas was pressed on whether the vessel recovered in Micoud was the same one allegedly destroyed during the recent US strike, he said: “We cannot at this time confirm. We are yet to identify the vessel itself in terms of its registration and ownership. We do not know what obtains with the vessel allegedly destroyed, as you have asked. So, we can make no connection between this vessel that we recovered yesterday and any vessel that may have been involved in the alleged attack,” he said.
What pjp said , no official report. Smh.