Coast Guard veteran arrested and hauled off cruise ship on his birthday in case of mistaken identity

A Coast Guard veteran woke up to US authorities arresting him in his cabin while celebrating his birthday on a Caribbean cruise.

Arizona couple Jose “Joey” Martinez and Tamara “Tammy” Verhas were in their cabin on the last morning of their eight-day sailing in the southern Caribbean on Carnival Horizon when they received an unexpected wake-up call.

After sailing around the Dominican Republic and the Antilles archipelago for Mr Martinez and his friend’s 50th birthday, the couple and their friends were docking back in Miami, Florida, on Monday 5 January.

Just before 7am that morning, the couple heard a banging on their cabin door.

“It immediately opened, and flashlights came into the room,” Ms Verhas told USA Today. “Three giant men wearing black, armed, [were] pointing flashlights at us, shouting.”

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Then men handcuffed Mr Martinez, while his wife filmed the entire ordeal.

“A female agent came in [and] jumped on top of me in the bed to try and snatch my phone, which she did eventually snatch,” Ms Verhas added.

“And then they disappeared with Joey and my phone for 90 minutes.” Mr Martinez was placed in a holding cell at the Miami port while officers checked his credentials.

Eventually, authorities explained to the veteran that they were actually looking for another person with Mr Martinez’s name who had a warrant out for his arrest.

Mr Martinez said he was cleared and led back to the ship, but did not receive an apology.

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“If it is just based off of my name, what other due diligence did they do?” Mr Martinez told Arizona radio station KTAR. “What other information did they use to justify the means of going into the room and pulling me out the way they did?”

“He has no record. He’s never been arrested. He’s a veteran. He has been FBI cleared. I mean, you know, He’s the average Joe. I figured he would come back, but the trauma that was going to happen in those 90 minutes was what I was concerned about,” Ms Verhas added to Phoenix radio station KJZZ.

Carnival Cruise Line said in a statement to The Independent: “We are aware that US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) took a guest into custody as a person of interest.

“This was a law enforcement matter and Carnival was not involved with this investigation or action,” they added. “We defer all further questions to the appropriate authorities.”

The couple added they have yet to receive an apology from CBP or communication from Carnival following the incident.

After the ordeal, the couple said they could not stop crying for the rest of the day and continued to feel the effects of the situation.

“The fact that what happened to me shows this could happen to anybody,” Mr Martinez told ABC15. “There are so many other people out there that this is happening to, maybe not on a cruise ship, but maybe on the streets or in their homes. And it’s just not right. There’s no humanity in it. It’s unnecessary. It’s dehumanising.”

The Independent has contacted the CBP for comment.

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