Cruise Passenger Fined $800 For Cannabis
26-year-old Brooklyn resident Jonathan Cruz — who is visiting Bermuda as a passenger on the cruise ship “Norwegian Star” — this morning [May 17] pleaded guilty to possessing 12 grams of cannabis.
According to the Crown Prosecutor, at 1:52pm on Wednesday 16th May, a Bermuda Customs K-9 search team had found the illegal drug in a cabin after the dog had alerted them.
The cabin, locked and empty at the time, was opened by ship’s staff and a Bermuda Custom’s search turned up the drugs. The search discovered a pouch containing rolled cigarettes as well as a clear plastic bag containing loose plant material.
Later that afternoon, Mr Cruz was identified to Police and Customs personnel. He admitted that the drugs were his, and he was escorted off the ship to Somerset Police Station.
In Court this morning, Mr Cruz told Senior Magistrate Archie Warner that: “I know I wasn’t supposed to have the drugs.” He explained that he was having several serious family issues and felt he needed to relax. He said: “It’s been tough.”
The Senior Magistrate fined him $800 and ordered that the fine be paid forthwith.
Read More About
Category: All, Court Reports, Crime, News
Don’t pay. Cite the file where Harvard person was given absolute discharge.
I wonder if someone were to raise that situation in court, what exactly would be said? I mean, there has to be some consistency in how the law is applied, or else you set precedents that come back to haunt.
I suggest that no one tries bringing up the Harvard Professor case in judge warners court unless they want a their sentence to be harsher than it would be if they kept it to themselves. Archie hates being put on the spot & looks at it as contempt. Lawyers will tell you if you are arrested for possession to be non confrontational to the judge & as apologetic as possible.
So, these canines can sniff-out this stuff through a closed door these days?? Damn!!
Most likely the passenger was smoking in the room & the K9 sniffed out the residue that seeped through the cracks. Notice that all of the cruise ship tourist caught have been found with cannabis even if there was another drug found also. I’m willing to bet there have been many other tourist on these ships that only had coke or ecstasy but the drug dogs could not smell it so they got away. Customs might as well call what they do cannabis searches & not drugs & weapons searches since its cannabis that these searches are geared for.
It is well known public knowledge that the poorly paid cabin crew on cruise ships get a reward for turning in information when they service the guest’s rooms on the cruise ships. A little monetary reward goes a long way to helping them financially.
Yea. and if that was a black bermudian he would have did time for it. SMH…… I DONT GET IT
Kinda like the pedo last week? Stfu
Thank you for this.
This comment is garbage. I’ve been in court and seen at least 5 cases that a Black Bermudian has been handed a conditional discharge for procession of weed in the last 2 years. Please stop spreading hate. Just cause you only hear about a few cases where a discharge has been granted, don’t think everything hits the news. What keeps this myth up is that the news does report who was convicted and given a sentence as these are considered public information which is unfortunate but is what happens.
LOL as been said those that REALLY KNOW about it can speak about it those that only heard about it keep quite.
Probably wasn’t a Harvard Professor…tough luck there.
HEY, HEY , HEY, DON’T YOU FOOLS SEE THAT WE ARE IN A RECESSION!!!! WE NEED OUR VISTORS AND THE MONEY THEY BRING THEY DON’T NEED US!! LEAVE THESE TOURIST ALONE PLEASE I BEG YOU! YOU ARE POKING WITH EVERY SINGLE BERMUDIANS MONEY INDIRECTLY YOU IDIOTS! IT IS JUST WEED NOT COCAINE OR HEROIN! NOW IF 26-year-old Brooklyn resident Jonathan Cruz LEAVES BERMUDA AND TELLS PEOPLE ABOUT HIS HORRIBLE ORDEAL IN BERMUDA I COULDN’T EVEN BLAME HIM.YOU ARE SCARING PEOPLE AWAY FROM BERMUDA and YOU FOOLS DON’T EVEN SEE IT !! THE GUY WAS ON A CRUISE SHIP WITH THE WEED LOCKED IN HIS CABIN! IT WEREN’T LIKE HE WAS UP DOCKYARD TRYING TO SELL THE WEED OR SMOKING THE WEED OUTSIDE OF SNORKEL PARK! THESE JUDGES ARE GETTING ME VEX NOW BECAUSE THERE ARE TOO MANY DOUBLE STANDARDS WHEN IT COMES TO WEED AS WE SAW WITH THE HARVARD PROFESSOR A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO! AND you fined the guy $800! That’s “messed” up! “Messed Up” isn’t the real phrase i wanna use right now but Bernews probably won’t show this blog if i used the phrase that i really wanna use! “Read Between The Lines!” That’s about two months of wages for some Americans did you know that! Jonathan Cruz probably took forever to save that $800 dollars just to come to Bermuda with weed in the cabbin while he wasn’t even there and be charged for it! People smoke weed on cruise ships all of the time. I have been on 8 in the last 5 years so i know I’ve seen it and smelled it! You know what i am gonna do! I am gonna start and online blog advertising specifically to PROFESSORS ESPECIALLY HARVARD ones to come to Bermuda and get HIGH! AND i will GUARANTEE THEM THAT No PENALTIES OR CRIMINAL RECORDS WILL BE INFLICTED UPON THEM! I WILL TELL THEM THAT IF THE POLICE OR ANYONE ASK THEM UP ARRIVAL TO BERMUDA IF THEY KNEW THAT WEED WAS ILLEGAL IN BERMUDA TO SAY YES THEY KNEW IT WAS ILLEGAL SO THAT THEY CAN GET OFF! THE HARVARD PROFESSOR SAID WHEN SHE GOT CAUGHT WITH WEED THAT SHE KNEW THAT IT WAS ILLEGAL TO BRING WEED INTO BERMUDA AND SHE STILL GOT OFF!! ALL PROFESSORS COME GET HIGH WITHOUT PENALTY!!
Thank you!!!
There are some very simple suggestions:
1) the Bermuda Immigration/Customs need to prepare a sign in the Cruise ship departure hallway outlining the severity of the Offence of Drug Importation in Bermuda.
2) The Bermuda Immigration/Customs need to prepare a presentation that airs on the ship’s television about the severity of the Offence of Drug Importation in Bermuda.
3) The Bermuda Immigration/Customs need to prepare a little pamphlet to be handed to every passenger that discusses the severity of the Offence of Drug Importation in Bermuda.
Any person(s) who after being fully advised of the penalties of drug importation is found in possession of Illegal Drugs should be dealt with by the Bermuda courts consistently and without any leniency whatsoever.
This foolishness we see every week with Tourists being fined is hurting our image (wrongfully) rather than helping us.
Marijuana is illegal in Bermuda, as it is in most places in the United States-these tourists know that but always think they are special and will get away with it. The cruise ships also have plenty of signs on-board about their strict no drugs allowed policy. They are warned all the time.
I could see if the kid was trying to get it on land, but it was in the room with no one in it! So technically it hasn’t been imported to the island til it reaches land!! The ship ppl didn’t keep him from getting on the ship with it so why we gotta go on there and make arrest for! Courts are really tryna make their quota for the year!
Another tourist not returning. For each one they fine, they probably tell ten other people that will never consider us as a destination. Oh well, they don’t spend money here anyway….
Wow its great to see when things like prohibition work like a charm. How much does this war on plant material cost us taxpayers every year? F@ck it I don’t care what it cost me as long as we’re keeping natural plant material off our streets, I mean its not like you could make triple the amount spent on keeping it illegal in profits by decriminalizing, regulating and taxing it. Realistically that’s only something you would consider if you actually wanted to strengthen our economy because it not like the majority of our population smoke NATURAL plant material…right?
I feel that the cruise lines should make it legal for passengers with ailments that require cannabis as treatment to contain a certain amount and that there should be an area on board where those and only those with ailments that need such treatments can go and rid their pains. We need to get real and realize there are people with ailments that require treatments that are considered to be taboo from the general perspective of things in society. Obviously serious regulation would be involved but everyone would be happy and there would be no cases such as this in front of the magistrate to make people tear up and resent ever coming here again. Lastly we can focus more on the importations of the large amounts because we wouldn’t be lulligaging around looking for passengers with prescribed marijuana for their syndromes and pains you could use all your time to combat the large amounts.
Now that is one funny statement ‘Owner4′.
It’s ilegal to bring aboard in the first place.
Now just imagine if airlines did the same.
Forgot, can’t smoke on a plane.
And you think that when you get off a cruise ship in Baltimore, Philly, NY, et al they just let it in?
Homoparanoiya.
Nawa mine…….
Thats why I said the cruise ships should work it out amongst themselves as to how to greet the situation and it wouldnt be open to anybody just those with perscriptions and they’d only be allowed to have the required dosage for the length of their trip on board. You never know the pain that these people feel until you contract what they have. Just an idea though and I’m sure the required dosage wouldnt be anything substantial where they would be tempted to bring it off board and sell it u get me?
Tourists need to do some research before coming to Bermuda. Say you have a prescription but your doctor’s on vacation and can’t provide a copy and that a conviction will jeopardise ones career. Oh, and be female if possible. That way you will receive a sympathetic response.
How many firearms or hard drugs are found on these searches? Seems none as none are reported in the news, probably because it’s easier to have the dog go to the cabin identified by the cruise ship. The main contraband has already been unloaded by the time fido gets on board.
This passenger should have gotten a prescription from a doctor for some highly addictive valium or prozac to deal with their serious family issues. Maybe the side effects would be much more dangerous from these other drugs & could possibly cause psychotic episodes but at least he could not be prosecuted for them in Bermuda.
Yea exactly and the side effects from marijuana make you slow and stoooopid like a zombie from those movies, no not the fast running ones, the slow drooling, walking on a broke ankle zombies cuz the government tells us so and they would never lie to us. I’d rather take something perscribed by my doctor who spent 8 years in school where the only side effect is possible oily rectal dischar… Wait wtf?!
Oily rectal discharge!!! EEEEWWW!!!
AND THATS NOT ALL FOLKS!!! With anti depression medications like prozac or valium you may experience erectile dysfunction, nausea, insomnia, drowsiness, anxiety, asthenia, involuntary muscle contractions, vasculitis, lupus-like syndrome, suicidal behavior, mood swings & manic depression. WOW!!! I bet everyone wants some of that!
Thats it! Im depressed, im going to my doctor tomorrow, im getting that stuff and ANYTHING I end up in court for is an involuntary muscle contraction, brilliance! You also forgot the anti-depressants that you need to take with the first anti-depressant if they dont work, probably because your depressed about having erectile dysfunction from taking the anti-depressant.
LOL!
My apologies for flipping you the bird your honor its an involuntary muscle contraction from the anti depressants I’m. OH NO! Here comes another contraction! OH SOOOO SORRY! I didn’t mean to moon you its just these darn contractions. You see your honor its really not my fault I had a mood swing that made me beat the living daylights out of the driver who cut me off its THE PRESCRIPTION DRUUUUGS! THE PRESCRIPTION DRUUUUGS! THEY MADE ME DO IT! Now please excuse me while I itch my but this oily discharge is really irritating.
SHould have pleaded not guilty by grounds that it was not his and by way that he was not present and that police more than likely planted it there.
Police didn’t find it. They do not go on the cruise ships. It is a customs dog. U can’t read?
There are some very simple suggestions:
1) the Bermuda Immigration/Customs need to prepare a sign in the Cruise ship departure hallway outlining the severity of the Offence of Drug Importation in Bermuda.
2) The Bermuda Immigration/Customs need to prepare a presentation that airs on the ship’s television about the severity of the Offence of Drug Importation in Bermuda.
3) The Bermuda Immigration/Customs need to prepare a little pamphlet to be handed to every passenger that discusses the severity of the Offence of Drug Importation in Bermuda.
Any person(s) who after being fully advised of the penalties of drug importation is found in possession of Illegal Drugs should be dealt with by the Bermuda courts consistently and without any leniency whatsoever.
This foolishness we see every week with Tourists being fined is hurting our image (wrongfully) rather than helping us.
Good! Was a cruise not relaxing enough? He said his mother has cancer and his father has an eye injury. WTF? If so why are you out cruising about, should be home helping them out if he cared that much.
How do you know that he doesn’t take care of his parents regularly & just wanted 7 days to himself? Maybe he arranged for someone to take care of them for those 7 days. Do you think that someone is selfish & uncaring because they take a 7 day vacation from caring for their loved ones the other 358 days of the year?
I see that you think prohibition of cannabis is a good thing. Do you also think it was a good thing when alcohol used to be criminalized in America?
Cause he would have said so. I’m assuming he’s full of sh!t and using that as a pity excuse to get a slap on the wrist like everyone else tries to do. How do you know he’s telling the truth? Actually I do think it’s selfish they raised him for 18 years did they not? Took care of him when he could’t take care of himself? If they are that bad based on him claiming to be so stressed. If it were me I’d want to be there in case something happens to them not thousands of miles away partying on a cruise ship and lighting up.
No. Alcohol and marijuana are two different things that are stupidly compared.
I don’t know if he’s telling the truth & thats why I put the question marks behind my sentences. My questions are in the just in case he was telling the truth. The American media seems to have more of the scoop since they are stating he’s telling the truth but who knows maybe their wrong. Either way for this judge not to give him or many others the benefit of the doubt distinctly the seniors citizens he has charged but give someone claiming to be a Harvard professor it there is a big question of what the real motives behind this judge’s fines are. Justice is supposed to be balance & blind but with this judge & one other it does not seem to be.
You’re right about alcohol & cannabis being two different things but the comparison is not stupid. The reason so many compare the two is because it is a proven fact that thousands die from alcohol related causes while no one has ever proven any related deaths from cannabis except for ones caused not directly from it but from its prohibition. The comparison comes from one being just as dangerous as cocaine being decriminalized while the other as dangerous as nutmeg being criminalized. Maybe the better comparison question would be why is nutmeg which is a drug also is legal while cannabis is criminalized. Be my guest & try debating me on this as I have many references from many studies done by well regarded scientist that have proven without a shadow of doubt this is true. I won’t disagree that cannabis causes no harm but the harm is much less to the individual & society then alcohol & there are Native American nations that can profess to this or at least the ones with a still living population.
Yes, you’re right. Alcohol is MUCH more dangerous and kills hundreds of thousands each year. Meanwhile deaths from marijuana still 0. Oh how different they are my friend. Surely you have done your research.
How the hell do you have any clue what is going on in this man’s life? It is judgmental ass u me people that cause the world to be a bad place.
We need stronger drugs. Ones that explode when lit.
If you could stick your head up your a** you would have one on hand. They cant make a** holes illegal can they?
According to manuel noriega’s best friend ronald reagan cannabis already does this & the blast is equivalent to a hydrogen bomb. Yup! I see it any time I’m up in a reggae session the dejay puts on the conscious tunes then someone lights up & booom! Now if you believe that you must have eaten too many worms out of tequila bottles.
It’s amusing that you choose the screen name TheFuture when the the future is all about decriminalization of cannabis. Their are 13 states in America that have done so & Obama has already expressed his support for decriminalization throughout the nation. Mexico & many other central & South American countries have decriminalized it also along with Canada & the majority of Europe. Maybe you should consider changing your screen name to ThePast as thats where you seem to dwell.
And what do you dreamers think they do when the cruise ship passengers smoke it all and they are still in Bermuda. They go over snorkel park and buy more from the idiots from M.O.B. These same idiots that you want locked up for murder, assaults and drug selling.
You’re the dreamer because M.O.B. doesn’t hang at snorkel park they hang at that place named after the bird that does that Ha-ha-ha-HAA-ha! Ha-ha-ha-HAA-ha! Hahahaha laugh like I’m doing as I read your comment. Besides why would a tourist approach a thugged out looking crack head to buy some bush weed thats been buried in a back yard for months. If tourist are not willing to pay the high prices for legal goods here what makes you think their going to pay the even higher prices for weed here. This is why they bring it with them because they get better quality at lower prices & don’t have to buy it from gangster wannabes. Another thing is that M.O.B. makes most of their profits off of CRACK, COCAINE & HEROINE NOT WEED & they make these profits off of locals not tourist. Prohibition of ALL drugs not just cannabis fuels violence & crime even the prohibition of alcohol in the 30s showed the proof of this with the rise of notorious al capone & his gang. How long will it take for our law makers to figure out something so elementary? Until the business of drug supply is taken away from gangsters & given to clinics as it is in European countries there will be no way to stop the crime we have here just as there has been zero success in America’s war on drugs.
Log on to Cruise Law News and click on drugs in the side bar
Once again searching a cabin with out the passengers presence. He should have fought the charge.
Shocking, utterly shocking; Law enforcement agencies enforced the law. Wow.
Pay your fine and enjoy your flight home.
NEXT.
What I find utterly shocking is that there are much more busts of drug users then there are of drug traffickers. If law enforcement agencies here want to REALLY enforce the law shouldn’t they focus on stopping the large quantities of drugs especially the harder ones from coming in?
And don’t come back now ya hear!
$800 forthwith. Bermuda is the upfront payment capital of the world. This guy was wrong for bringing the pot but clearly BDA is almost trying to drive every tourist away. Sad times ahead for BDA tourism.
Perhaps I need to show Tommy Chong videos of cruise ship passengers being chased back to the cruise ship pier by M.O.B. gang members on foot and motorcycles after the passengers went to snorkel park trying to buy drugs and then MOB tried to rob them of money that they had. Stuff goes on up there that obviously none of you blogging have a clue about. Things like the captain refusing to let anyone off a cruise ship until customs went on board and found which cabin members on deck ten were smoking drugs the night before docking in Bermuda and smelling out the corridor with marijuana for everyone else to inhale as they walked passed including little children.
And I am not saying that they should go court and be fined for drugs that they had no intention of bringing off the ship. I think customs should go on board and find any amount of drugs. People think that because they like to use marijuana that everyone should except it and that’s just plain wrong. Specially if I have to inhale it and don’t want to. If you do it in the privacy of your own home then that’s fine.
You’re contradicting yourself by stating that you’re not saying that they should go court and be fined for drugs then stating that you think customs should go on board and find any amount of drugs. If customs goes onboard & finds drugs they must arrest the one possessing them & they will be brought to court after & charged. Also its not about excepting people who use cannabis its about tolerating the use if it doesn’t effect you or anyone else who doesn’t care to smell it. I agree that no one should have to smell cannabis smoke if they don’t want to but its very hypocritical that my children have to inhale cigarette smoke in a public place & the person smoking is not reprimanded & what’s worse is when I politely ask them to put it out & they want to physically challenge me while others around cheer them on saying its they’re right to smoke cigarettes where they want.
Which is WHY they bring their own! SO they don’t have to deal with the dangerous thugs that can’t even be proper drug dealers!
@ Real – Honestly I think it should be smoke in a well vetilated area, similar to cigarettes now. Most people are perfectly fine walking past the porch of docksiders, now the smoking section, with their family, including small children. What would be the reaction if I was smoking cannabis out there? Fact is you would be lucky if your child inhaled enough of my smoke to even effect them, do you know how much it costs here? It also has waaaayyyy less chemicals in it than cigarettes on top of the fact most of it is already filtered through my lungs (we “stoners” aren’t very wasteful”). It also may be the first time you’ve splept the whole night in 4 years and your child lol but I agree, as I should have the choice to put a natural substance in my body, you should have the choice to not. It really hurts nobody.
Sorry @ More with less
How the hell can they have a buy Bermuda campaigne when the customs officers/magistrates charge you for plant material and so do the “drug dealers”? Can we spell dispenceries? With security.
more jobs created? Who would have thought.
Where the heck are you getting this false information from? The only time anyone has ever been chased by thugs from snorkel park was the crew members who got into the fight with them. This was not over drugs this was over a crew member bumping into one of these coked out idiots by mistake then when they tried to apologies the thugs rather wanted to fight. The bouncers at snorkel know who these guys are & has not let them in ever since but this is not their normal hangout as I mentioned above where it is. If this was a regular occurrence don’t you think it would have made the news by now. I’ve gone to many parties at snorkel & I’ve never seen this happen at even one. The other thing about the captain not allowing people off the ship is false also because if this was the reason that passengers get busted it would be reported instead of the reports saying the passenger was already off the ship when customs raided the room.