Dudus: Christopher Coke Turned Over to U.S. Officials

June 24, 2010 — -- Christopher Coke, the accused drug lord captured by Jamaican police Tuesday, was escorted by U.S. federal agents off a plane in suburban Westchester County, New York, at about 7 p.m. after his extradition from Jamaica.

He is expected to be arraigned in federal court in Manhattan on Friday.

Coke, also known as Dudus, who was wanted by the Southern District of New York on drug and weapons charges, was captured by Jamaican police on the outskirts of Kingston on Tuesday. He waived his right to judicial proceedings in Jamaica, according to a statement from the Justice Department, and was transferred to the custody of the U.S. Marshals service and the DEA.

U.S. Marshals, DEA agents and federal prosecutors had worked hand in hand with senior Jamaican military and police officials in an effort to effect Coke's surrender and extradition. His attorney had contacted U.S. authorities on Monday advising that Coke was considering turning himself in to the U.S. It was the first communication that U.S. authorities had had with Coke's attorney in several weeks.

"We are relieved that Coke's arrest and transfer to New York was not marked by the violence that had gripped the streets of Jamaica for so many days," said U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara. "We look forward to presenting our case to a jury in a Manhattan courtroom and bringing Coke to justice."

More than 70 Jamaicans, including both civilians and security officers, died after Jamaican authorities began moving in on Coke's barricaded West Kingston neighborhood in an attempt to capture him late last month. The U.S. has wanted to extradite Coke since 2009, but the Jamaican government had resisted until May.

The police and military effort to capture Coke and curb the violence brought thousands of uniformed men into Kingston's streets. Jamaican authorities allege that Coke brought in gunmen from other parts of Jamaica and other Caribbean islands to fight back and help prevent his capture.

The 2009 U.S. indictment of Coke charges that he shipped firearms back to Jamaica from the U.S. The island nation has one of the highest murder rates in the Western Hemisphere. Nearly 1700 people were slain in 2009, out of a population of about three million, and as 2010 approaches the halfway mark about 1300 have already been killed.

U.S. authorities said they believed Coke escaped through a ring of hundreds of cops and soldiers who had surrounded the West Kingston neighborhood of Tivoli Gardens. Jamaican and U.S. authorities reported that Coke may have slipped through police lines and escaped into one of two adjoining areas, either Denham Town or Jones Town.