Jose Martinez was celebrating his 50th birthday when three men clad in black stormed his room and arrested him on drug charges. Take a mini-vacation on Carnival Conquest. Photo by Roy Luck/Flickr Audio By Carbonatix Last week, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers arrested a U.S. Coast Guard veteran in a case of mistaken identity on a Miami cruise ship. On the final day of an eight-day cruise aboard the Carnival Horizon, federal authorities abruptly awoke Arizona couple Jose Martinez and Tamara Verhas at about 6 a.m. on January 5 to arrest Martinez, he told multiple news outlets. In an emailed statement to New Times, a CBP spokesman confirmed the arrest and subsequent release of Martinez, saying the organization was after someone from Los Angeles with “dangerous drug charges.” “If it is just based off of my name, what other due diligence did they do?” Martinez asked 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?” According to the CBP spokesman, “On January 5, CBP Office of Field Operations officers at Miami Seaport boarded the cruise ship CCL Horizon to process a passenger flagged for a possible NCIC warrant for dangerous drug charges out of Los Angeles. Secondary inspection did not confirm the warrant, and the passenger was released without incident.” Sign up for the This Week’s Top Stories newsletter to get the latest stories delivered to your inbox FBI Investigates Anna Kepner’s Stepbrother in Cruise Ship Death “Bare-adise!”: Miami’s Big Nude Cruise Sets Sail Again in 2026 A Broward Cop Car Somehow Ended Up in England Martinez’s recollection of events, however, was not so tame. “We heard banging at the door, woken out of our sleep, and next thing we know three men with flashlights in their eyes were entering the room, yelling my name and ordering me out of bed and up against the wall,” he told KTAR. “It was just chaos.” In an interview with USA Today, Verhas echoed Martinez’s version of the arrest. “Three giant men wearing black, armed, [were] pointing flashlights at us, shouting. 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. And then they disappeared with Joey and my phone for 90 minutes.” Controversial Influencer Clavicular Facing Criminal Charges in Alligator Shooting In an interview with Phoenix radio station KJZZ, she added, “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.” According to CBP, Martinez was detained for less than an hour. The ship had just returned to port in Miami after sailing around the Dominican Republic and the Antilles archipelago, a trip Martinez took to celebrate his 50th birthday. Verhas recalled the incident in an interview with USA Today. PETA Wants Robo-Dog Cops in Fort Lauderdale After K9 Shooting Keep Miami New Times Free No paywall. Always accessible. We’re always watching out for you and our community — but we need your help to keep us going strong. Help keep Miami New Times free and in print every week. Select how much you'd like to contribute /month Support Us Today B. Scott McLendon joined New Times staff in 2025. A national award-winning journalist, he previously covered education, crime, courts, and local government for daily newspapers in Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas. He holds a bachelor’s in journalism from Troy University. Loading latest posts... Loading trending posts...