Jamaica police urge alleged drug kingpin to surrender from barricaded stronghold

Jamaica police urge suspected drug lord to give up

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Police in Jamaica’s jittery capital urged a gang leader wanted in the U.S. on drug and arms-trafficking charges to surrender Sunday, even as tension grew behind barricades erected by his supporters to protect him.

In a gritty section of the capital of an island known more for reggae and all-inclusive resorts, defiant followers of Christopher “Dudus” Coke, a Jamaican “don” who is widely suspected of controlling gunmen in West Kingston’s Tivoli Gardens, have transformed the slum into a virtual fortress cut off by trashed cars and barbed wire.

The standoff has intensified for nearly a week, since Prime Minister Bruce Golding reversed his long-standing refusal to extradite Coke to the U.S. People in the community quickly started preparing for war.

“The police are publicly calling on Christopher Coke, otherwise called ‘Dudus,’ ‘Short Man,’ and ‘President,’ to hand himself over,” said a statement from police high command Sunday. “The security forces wish to make it very clear that they view the barricading as an act of cowardice on the part of selfish criminal elements, mainly Mr. Coke.”

So far, violence has been sporadic in the impoverished community, where a 2001 standoff between gunmen and security forces tracking down fugitives killed 25 civilians, as well as a soldier and a constable.

Coke is described as one of the world’s most dangerous drug lords by the U.S. Justice Department. He has ties of loyalty to the ruling Jamaica Labour Party and holds significant sway over the West Kingston area represented in Parliament by Golding, who stalled Coke’s extradition request for months with claims that the U.S. indictment relied on illegal wiretap evidence.

Golding’s fight against the extradition strained relations with Washington, which questioned the Caribbean country’s reliability as an ally in the fight against drugs. His handling of the matter, particularly his hiring of a U.S. firm to lobby Washington to drop the extradition request, provoked an outcry that threatened his political career.

Coke, who typically avoids the limelight, has remained silent. He faces life in prison if convicted on charges filed against him in New York.