Cocaine, cash probe goes global
Owner of house where currency seized was wanted for extradition in 2005
Published:Thursday | April 28, 2022 | 12:10 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
TUESDAY’S MAJOR seizure of $88 million worth of cocaine and a large sum of United States and Canadian currency in western Jamaica has triggered a multinational investigation, Assistant Commissioner of Police Clifford Chambers has confirmed.
The authorities were, up to late Wednesday night, still counting the foreign currency, which was seized from a three-storey dwelling in Coral Gardens, St James. The police have indicated that it will take significant time to determine the full value.
In a brief statement to The Gleaner Wednesday, Chambers, commander of Area One, confirmed that several individuals have been arrested for the money and drug seizures in a tri-parish operation.
“The persons arrested for those items are different persons. A high-level investigation is now in train, which extends beyond the shores of Jamaica,” he said, though not specifying what other jurisdictions may be involved.
Chambers revealed that the United States had sent out an extradition request in 2005 for the owner of the house where the money was found.
“The operation has been extended to other parishes to include Westmoreland and St Elizabeth,” Chambers told The Gleaner.
A 46-year-old businessman was taken into custody after a vehicle he was reportedly driving was searched by a police team and found to contain 11 kilograms of cocaine, valued at over US$500,000. His identity has not been released.
A woman was also arrested in Westmoreland in connection with both seizures.
The police’s recent crackdown on crime in western Jamaica included heightened enforcement operations Wednesday, enlisting municipal personnel, the Island Traffic Authority, and other agencies.
Several persons were arrested for breaches of the Law Reform (Fraudulent Transactions) (Special Provisions) Act, otherwise known as the Lottery Scam Act.
The past two days’ efforts by the police come on the heels of a warning issued earlier this month by Dominick Riley, United States Postal Inspection Service attaché at the US Embassy in Kingston, that several extradition warrants would be issued in April for alleged Jamaican lottery scammers to face justice in America.
The operations also represent an aggressive push signalled by Commissioner of Police Antony Anderson, who pledged to tighten the dragnet on criminals in the west in a 90-day period ending in June.
“Scammers can stay ahead and make an advance some of the times, so we have not lost this war, but we are definitely in for a fight. Extraditions will pick up, and we shall see a lot more extraditions coming in the future, this month, as there are several in the pipeline,” Riley said at the time.
Western Jamaica, particularly sections of St James and Westmoreland, has been identified as the epicentre for the sweepstakes scam, which is estimated to rake in more than US$300 million annually. The scheme targets mainly elderly Americans, wooing them to make payments to access lottery winnings.