Montego Bay businessman, Hartford Montique, who has been in custody since October 2004, will not be extradited to the United States to face drug-related charges following a Court of Appeal ruling yesterday.

The court, in setting aside the extradition order, ruled that insufficient evidence was produced before the Resident Magistrate to link him to the offences. Montique had appealed against a Supreme Court ruling which turned down his application to be released from custody.

In October 2004, a Resident Magistrate ordered that Montique, who is also called 'Brookie', should be extradited to face charges of aiding and abetting, counselling or procuring the importation of marijuana into the United States.

He was also to face charges for possession of 100 kilograms of marijuana which was found in a mini-van in the United States in October 2003.

Attorneys-at-law Patrick Atkinson and Carolyn Reid-Cameron argued before the Court of Appeal that Montique should be released because the evidence before the Resident Magistrate did not establish a prima facie case against him.

No evidence

The Court of Appeal, comprising Justices Algernon Smith, Karl Harrison and Horace Marsh (acting), in ordering Montique's immediate release from custody, said that in his case, there was not a scintilla of evidence that he had any proprietary interest in the controlled substance which was seized in the U.S.

The court found that there was no evidence that he was involved in the importation or possession of the drugs. It was the court's finding that "the evidence adduced before the Resident Magistrate is insufficient to form a prima facie case against the appellant for the offences".

- B.G.