More arrests coming in million-dollar drug bust
Published:Friday | December 3, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Glenroy Sinclair, Assignment Coordinator
More persons are expected to be arrested in connection with a multimillion-dollar, international narcotics drug operation now being investigated by the Anti-Corruption Branch of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) in collaboration with several law-enforcement agencies in Canada.
On Wednesday, a police sergeant attached to the Trelawny Police Division and a former airport employee who resides in St James were arrested by members of the Anti-Corruption Branch, following a nine-month coordinated international operation. According to a JCF report, numerous persons have since been arrested in Canada.
$1m worth of cocaine allegedly found
It is alleged that close to $1 million worth of crack cocaine was found on the premises, where the former airport employee was picked up.
"Intelligence has suggested that this was supposed to be sent to Canada too," a JCF official, who requested anonymity, told The Gleaner last night.
In the meantime, police reports stressed that the Jamaican leg of the investigation involves an international narcotics trafficking network through which shipments of crack cocaine and hash oil were being sent from the Sangster International Airport.
"The shipments were sent in small parcels," the JCF official said.
This is the second major international drug case that has resulted in the arrest of a member of the JCF in recent times. In 2004, Police Corporal Herbert 'Scarry' Henry waived his right to appeal an extradition and was sent to the United States to face drug-related charges. He was among five persons held in Jamaica after Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) officials in Florida served provisional warrants to local authorities. The DEA claimed the men were part of a drug-smuggling ring which shipped more than 5,000 kilograms of cocaine and a quantity of marijuana into the US. Henry was convicted on the charges.
Head of the Anti-Corruption Branch, Assistant Commissioner Justin Felice, was unable to comment on the arrest of the police sergeant.