By Kenichi Serino
A businessman who came to St Kitts to make deals growing cannabis and was later arrested on drug charges, has denied the accusations and has promised a legal fightback against Prime Minister Dr. Timothy Harris.
Alkivaides “Alki” David was detained at Robert L Bradshaw attempting to import cannabis seeds, seedlings and products that he said were legal. He was released but later arrested on May 9 on three charges including drug importation, possession and intent to supply.
In a press conference on Monday, David blamed Harris for accusations in the media that he was attempting to purchase land on St. Kitts as well as arresting his friend and business partner Chase Ergen. David was accompanied at the press conference by Leader of the Opposition Dr. Denzil Douglas.
David called Harris “a little dictator” and said he had flown in outside attorneys from London to take up his case.
“This little dictator who thinks he can do this. It’s illegal and its unconscionable. Mr Harris here has a whole new thing coming at him,” David said.
“I’ve never been to jail in my life, I’ve never had handcuffs put on me,” said David.
“I was degraded, my friend is being degraded and we’ve done nothing wrong.”
When contacted by The Observer, the office of Prime Minister Harris declined to comment at this time.
David has denied the drug accusations and said that his plants are a different variety of cannabis, do not contain THC-an active ingredient in marijuana-and are not illegal in St. Kitts. He promised he would bring this defense to court.
“We’re going to go into the granular details of what cannabis genus it is,” said David. “We didn’t even bring in cannabis, we brought in a cousin of cannabis that has been genetically modified.”
David is to appear in the Basseterre Magistrates court tomorrow.
