ttgapers.com

Jamaica Acting Deputy Commissioner of Police Glenmore Hinds, has publicly stated that his forces are ready for any backlash associated with the deportation of West Kingston don, Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke. Dudus is wanted in the United States on drug and arms trafficking charges. The Jamaican Government has not signed the request since the United States sent the papers to Jamaica in August.

Hinds also said that the Jamaican police is not seeking any assistance from United States and United Kingdom law enforcement authorities in case there is mass social disorder following the extradition. “No, we are not planning to do that,” Hinds said, adding, “This is still a localised policing activity. We are satisfied that we have sufficient numbers and strategies in place to deal with all eventualities, but we are not going to be jumping the gun. There is nothing yet in the realm of law enforcement.”

Amid rumours that Coke has been domiciled in Tivoli Gardens, the inner city community where he is revered like a folk hero and referred to as ‘The President’, authorities are on edge that any attempt to place him before a Resident Magistrate’s Court to answer the extradition request, or forcibly take him out of the island without trial, may result in bloodshed.

Hinds in response to that fear said, “As the constituted authority for law and order in Jamaica, we are always prepared to deal with all eventualities. We have developed contingency planning for a range of events and activities, including public disorder. The contingency plans do have different levels and stages, certainly there is a national contingency plan and there is divisional contingency planning and to that extent, whatever is required to deal with any situation.”

Prime Minister Bruce Golding told a heated sitting of the House of Representatives Tuesday that the request for Coke’s extradition was being handled carefully by the attorney general’s office. He argued that it was not unusual for extradition requests from the United States to take as long as Coke’s and offered as examples a number of others with their timelines.

According to Prime Minister Golding, “Extradition requests must be executed in accordance with the internal laws of the requested state. We have raised with the US authorities our concern that the request did not comply with the internal laws of the requested state and therefore it is not a matter of whether the minister is inclined to authorise the extradition, it is a question that the minister would be authorising something she knows is in violation of the law.”

“This particular request is somewhat different in that it also relies for its validity on the provisions of the Mutual Assistance Criminal Matters Act. The Government of Jamaica has raised with the US authorities issues regarding its compliance with that Act," the prime minister said. According to Golding most other extraditions are based on the Extradition Act and provisions of the Extradition Treaty and not on the Mutual Assistance Criminal Matters Act.