News

Fresh speculation has emerged in the United States that prosecutors there are preparing extradition requests for more Jamaicans linked to reputed drug kingpin Christopher 'Dudus' Coke.

For the second time since Coke was arrested and extradited to the US, prosecutors have placed sealed documents related to the case in the vault of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The latest filing took place on Monday and, as usual, prosecutors gave no explanation as to what is contained in the sealed document. A similar sealed document had been placed in the vault in mid-July.

At that time, legal sources in the US dismissed claims that the sealed document could be any plea deal involving Coke, who is facing a lengthy prison sentence if convicted of charges of conspiracy to distribute illegal drugs and trafficking in firearms.

Possible indictments

According to the legal sources, the sealed documents could be indictments of those individuals who assisted Coke during the 10 months that the Jamaican Government delayed his extradition from Jamaica.

"It could also be a product of the Department of Justice investigation into the Manatt FARA filings," a US-based attorney said.

The Jamaican Government had spent months haggling with its American counterpart over issues related to the extradition request.

During that time, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), sanctioned by Prime Minister Bruce Golding, reportedly contracted the US law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips to engage the Americans to "settle a treaty dispute" related to the request.

Coke, who was extradited to the US in June, returns to court on September 7 for a pretrial conference.