A senior police officer is due to appear in court on Wednesday after he was charged with possession of cocaine, dealing in cocaine, and trafficking cocaine and conspiracy following a major cocaine here last week.
But two members of the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) soldiers, who were also detained during the exercise in St. Andrew, parish, situated in the southeast of the island, have been released.
The authorities say that the officer, Detective Inspector Martin Walker, 51, who is attached to the Counter-Terrorism and Organised Crime Investigations Branch was charged over the last weekend. He had been taken into custody during a coordinated anti-narcotics operation and is scheduled to appear before the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court on Wednesday, January 14.
The police allege that he was observed in the company of two men near three vehicles parked in close proximity and that all three vehicles were subsequently seized and transported to the Firearms and Narcotics Investigation Division (FNID) headquarters for detailed examination.
A search of the officer’s vehicle reportedly revealed a plastic bag containing just over 5.8 kilograms of cocaine, the police said. The drug has an estimated street value of J$3.5 million (One Jamaica dollar=US$0.008 cents).