ST. THOMAS — A British national from Tortola is facing a federal alien-smuggling charge after U.S. Customs and Border Protection said a vessel carrying a family of three Indian nationals traveled from St. Thomas toward Culebra, Puerto Rico, where the passengers were detained after reaching shore.
CBP said the operation began at approximately 6:30 a.m. on September 15, when an Air and Marine Operations unit alerted the agency’s Fajardo Marine Unit to a vessel traveling from St. Thomas toward Culebra. Marine Interdiction agents then notified Puerto Rico Police officers on Culebra, who responded to the area where the vessel had made landfall.
Officers detained three people who identified themselves as citizens of India traveling as a family unit — an adult man, an adult woman and a juvenile, according to CBP. The Fajardo Marine Unit subsequently deployed two vessels to assist in the search and intercepted the boat allegedly used to transport the family. One person remained aboard.
Following interviews conducted by Ramey Sector Border Patrol agents and members of the Homeland Security Task Force’s Human Smuggling Unit, authorities identified the vessel operator as Kavon Wheatly, a British national from Tortola in the British Virgin Islands. CBP said Wheatly was charged under 8 U.S.C. § 1324, the federal statute covering the bringing in, harboring and transportation of unauthorized immigrants.
CBP did not disclose in its Friday announcement whether the family had paid for the trip, how long they had been on St. Thomas before departing, or where on St. Thomas the vessel began its voyage. The agency also did not provide additional details about the circumstances under which the family reached Culebra.
The three Indian nationals will be processed under applicable immigration law and placed into removal proceedings, CBP said. All four people involved were transported to the Ramey Border Patrol Station for further processing. Authorities also intend to seize the vessel and its 200-horsepower engine under federal customs law.
“Human smugglers routinely place lives at risk for profit, using dangerous maritime routes and unsafe conditions,” said Christopher Hunter, director of CBP’s Caribbean Air and Marine Branch. He said the interdiction demonstrated the importance of coordination among Air and Marine Operations, Border Patrol, Puerto Rico Police and federal partners.
The St. Thomas-to-Culebra corridor has surfaced in previous federal smuggling cases. The Consortium reported that in October 2024, CBP agents encountered a disabled vessel near West Cay after receiving information that undocumented migrants were being loaded in Fortuna Bay on St. Thomas. Authorities said ten passengers — four Dominican nationals, four Romanians and two Brazilians — had paid to be transported from St. Thomas to Culebra. The vessel’s operator, Omailly Sanchez Taveras, was later convicted of alien smuggling and sentenced in May 2026 to 10 months in federal prison.
Federal authorities have also encountered drug-trafficking vessels moving along the same maritime corridor. In a separate case previously reported by the Consortium, CBP Air and Marine Operations agents pursued a vessel traveling between St. Thomas and Culebra in July 2025 and recovered 65 packages of cocaine after bags were thrown overboard during the chase.
The charge against Wheatly remains an allegation, and he is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court. CBP had not announced additional criminal charges against the three family members as of its Friday release; their cases are proceeding through the immigration system.
