The Royal St. Lucia Police Police (RSLPF) Tuesday said that a 25-year-old St. Lucian national has been extradited to the neighbouring French island of Martinique to face multiple criminal charges, including fraud, armed robbery, kidnapping, and murder.
It said that Deshawn Rene was last week formally handed over to a French escort team for transfer to Martinique, in a joint operation between the RSLPF and the Bordelais Correctional Facility (BCF).
‘This marks the fifth extradition to Martinique this year, as St. Lucia continues to strengthen cooperation with French law enforcement in the ongoing fight against transnational crime,’ the police said in a statement.
At the end of October this year, French and St. Lucian security officials agreed on new initiatives aimed at deepening their cooperation in the fight against crime, including drug trafficking.
‘This agreement underscores the mutual trust and shared determination of both countries to confront drug and arms trafficking, threats that pose serious risks to the security and stability of their territories,’ according to the joint statement issued following the two-day ninth meeting of the Joint Security Commission between France and St. Lucia.
The statement said that an agreement was reached to ‘deepen cooperation between security forces in the fight against drug trafficking through intelligence sharing and joint training initiatives.
‘To support this, a St. Lucian police officer will be assigned to the Consulate General of St. Lucia in Fort-de-France in early 2026,’ the statement said, adding that agreement was also reached to ‘combat cross-border crime more effectively by enhancing exchanges between judicial authorities, particularly in matters of extradition and the seizure of criminal assets’.