By Nagra Plunkett, Staff Reporter
The residence of Leebert Ramcharan, situated at Spring Farm, an upscale Montego Bay neighbourhood. Mr. Ramcharan and Donovan Williams were arrested yesterday. - Patrick Campbell/Freelance Photographer
TWO MEN are in the custody of the narcotics police and are being interrogated in Kingston, where they were taken by helicopter hours after an international team detained them in Montego Bay.
The narcotics police said yesterday that the arrests of the two businessmen represented an international collaboration to eradicate the drug smuggling underworld.
The men have been identified as Leebert Ramcharan, operator of the Caribbean Showplace and Caribbean Beach Park in Montego Bay, and garage owner/operator Donovan 'Plucky' Williams from Seawind Apartments in the Montego Bay Freeport area.
They were flown into Kingston yesterday, where they were interrogated in connection with drug-related activities. Up to press time, no formal charges had been levelled against the men.
Insiders close to the incident say that the sting operation was intelligence-driven by the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). "The operation has resulted in the arrests of several significant players in the international drug trade in Jamaica and Colombia and the seizure of a large quantity of assets," said a release from Narcotics Headquarters in Kingston.
"The operation will be continued across the island."
Narcotics police also said the arrests came out of years of joint investigations between the local police, the Colombian Authority and the DEA into the trafficking of illegal narcotics from Colombia to the United States and the United Kingdom through Jamaica.
In Colombia, seven men described as 'significant subjects' in the drug trafficking ring were arrested.
Efforts at comment from narcotics chief Carl Williams who was said to be on the ground in Montego Bay yesterday were unsuccessful. A bust of this size is already being seen by the police as a victory in their attempts to target the real heavy hitters in the drug trade.
Yesterday in Montego Bay, motor vehicles including a green Ford Expedition pick-up, a white Lexus motor car and white Land Cruiser X5 sports utility vehicle and documents were seized from Ramcharan's sprawling three-storey mansion in the upscale community of Spring Farm in St. James.
Attorney-at-law George Thomas, who is representing both Ramcharan and Williams, told The Gleaner that a writ has been filed to have the men appear in court today to seek their release from custody.
"My clients were taken from their households and we have filed a habeas corpus writ to have them in court so the police can say why they are in custody," he said.
The drama began to unfold about 6:00 p.m. Tuesday when Ramcharan was picked up at the Wyndham Rose Hall Hotel. He was taken to the Montego Bay Police Freeport Station and later transported by helicopter to Kingston.
HOUSE SEARCHED
Some 12 hours later, a police team went to Williams' home where he was roused from his bed. His house was also searched but it is unclear if any items were confiscated by the lawmen.
Personnel from the Narcotics Unit spent the day combing Ramcharan's Spring Garden home and another house in Coral Gardens, St. James.
Reports are that the police hierarchy is seeking to have Ramcharan's assets frozen and there is information that an extradition order is being prepared to have him sent to the United Kingdom where he may face other criminal charges.
Ramcharan's brother, Norman, was held by British authorities last month as he was about to board a flight to Jamaica from London, Heathrow.
The Narcotics Police had attempted to nab Leebert Ramcharan in November 2001, but an operation in search of drugs at his business place, the Caribbean Showplace, turned up empty.
The US$3.6 million cache ($146.8 million then) which was confiscated during that raid, also had to be returned to the businessman, after the police failed to link the money to drug running.
