Jamaica arrests reputed kingpin

KINGSTON, Jamaica – Ending a monthlong search that has cost 76 people their lives, Jamaican authorities on Tuesday captured Christopher “Dudus” Coke, 42, an alleged trafficker in guns and drugs who is also wanted in the United States.

Acting on a tip, police captured Coke in St. Catherine parish on the outskirts of Kingston. He was dressed like a woman and wearing a wig, police said.

Coke was in the company of the Rev. Al Miller, who earlier had mediated the surrender of Coke’s brother, Leighton, to police.

Coke was on his way to surrender at the U.S. Embassy in Kingston when he was stopped at a police checkpoint, Miller told a Reuters reporter.

“The police searched the vehicle that I was in and they recognized him and held him,” Miller said.

Police said Tuesday they are now seeking to arrest Miller, who was not taken in with Coke and remains at large.

The capture occurred two days after the police offered a $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest.

U.S. authorities initially requested the extradition of Coke in August after he was indicted in New York on drug- and gun-smuggling charges. Although he first declined to execute an arrest order, Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding finally launched an operation to capture Coke last month in the Tivoli Gardens slum, which is Coke’s power base.

Authorities met with resistance from Coke’s gang members, with 73 civilians and three security force members killed in gunbattles.

More than 900 suspects were arrested and held in the National Arena for several days.

Coke allegedly was the leader of the so-called Shower Posse, the most powerful Jamaican drug-smuggling gang, with members in New York and other American cities along the East Coast.