Used car dealer among 8 held during search for ‘Dudus

A prominent used car dealer was among eight people held for questioning yesterday during a joint police/military operation in the upper St Andrew community of Smokey Vale.

A woman who was also among the eight was processed and released shortly after.

A police spokesman told the Observer that three houses, including two allegedly owned by the used car dealer, were searched as the security forces continued their hunt for accused drug lord Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke who is wanted by the United States to answer to drug and gun charges.

The police said a sport utility vehicle was seized during the operation, which started at about 8:30 in the morning and ended just after midday.

The police said they were following leads as they continued their search for Coke who has been on the run since the military went into Coke’s former stronghold of Tivoli Gardens, West Kingston on May 24 to restore order and have the police serve a warrant for his arrest.

“We didn’t find him, but we have some people who we have some interest in who we will be questioning,” a senior officer said of yesterday’s search.

“Wherever the intelligence leads us, we will be going. If we have reasons to go back, we will go back,” the officer said.

There have been a number of such operations in upscale St Andrew communities over the past few weeks to apprehend Coke.

Yesterday’s search in Smokey Vale comes almost four weeks after a similar search in the upscale community of Sterling Glades in Kirkland Heights during which nine people, two believed to be close friends of Coke, were apprehended. A joint police/military operation was also carried out in Kirkland Heights on May 27, which resulted in the fatal shooting of accountant Keith Clarke, the brother of former Cabinet minister Claude Clarke.

The police on Friday increased their J$1.7 million bounty placed on Coke to $5 million, as they intensified their search for him.

The US, last August, formally requested Jamaica to extradite Coke to face drug and gun charges there, but the Government held out on the signing of the extradition request for nine months.