Ab-Titchaz
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- Jan 30, 2008
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Jamaica urges calm after nabbing top fugitive
KINGSTON, Jamaica Hunted by security forces across Jamaica, reputed drug baron Christopher "Dudus" Coke sought out a preacher's advice and tried to turn himself in to U.S. marshals. He was caught by police at a highway checkpoint before he could get there.
Now, Jamaica's top police office is appealing for cool heads, urging Coke's gangland supporters to allow the law to take its course following his arrest Tuesday. Last month, fighting between security forces and gunmen loyal to the man dubbed by U.S. authorities as one of the world's most dangerous drug lords killed 76 people.
"I would like to appeal to the families, friends and sympathizers of Christopher Coke to remain calm," Police Commissioner Owen Ellington said after the capture of Jamaica's No. 1 fugitive, who eluded the bloody police offensive in his West Kingston slum stronghold.
Security forces "are taking every step possible to ensure his safety and well-being while he is in our custody," Ellington said Tuesday night, adding that legal proceedings against Coke should get under way quickly.
The 42-year-old Coke, who faces trial in New York on drug-trafficking and gunrunning charges, is said to fear suffering the same fate as his father, a gang leader who died in a prison fire in 1992 while awaiting extradition to the U.S. on drug charges.
Ellington said Coke was caught by police manning a vehicle checkpoint along a highway, but added that other "circumstances of (Coke's) arrest are being investigated." He said police were acting on intelligence.
The Rev. Al Miller, an influential evangelical preacher who facilitated the surrender of Coke's brother earlier this month, told The Associated Press that Coke was heading to surrender to authorities at the U.S. Embassy in Kingston when police stopped his convoy on a highway outside the capital.
"A contact was made on his behalf that he wanted to give himself in," Miller said. "I therefore made arrangements with his lawyers because he wanted to go ahead with the extradition process, so we communicated with the U.S. Embassy because that's where he would feel more comfortable."
Miller said police took Coke to the nearby Spanish Town police headquarters, then flew him to Kingston.
Last month, a U.S.law enforcement official in New York, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the AP that a lawyer for Coke was negotiating with the Justice Department about his client's possible safe removal to New York to face charges.
A phone listed for Coke's lead attorney, Don Foote, went unanswered.
Jamaica urges calm after nabbing top fugitive - Yahoo! News
