Jamaican police storm drug baron stronghold

Indicted: Christopher "Dudus" Coke is wanted in New York on drugs charges
12 April 2012

More than 1,000 police and soldiers attacked a slum in Jamaica's capital occupied by heavily armed gangsters defending a drug baron wanted by the US.

Security forces broke through barbed-wire barricades and fought their way into the labyrinthine Tivoli Gardens area late yesterday. Two policemen and one soldier have died and six police were badly injured.

Gunfire could be heard into the night echoing across the darkened slums, where authorities cut off power. Military helicopters flying with their lights off buzzed overhead.

A woman in Tivoli Gardens told Radio Jamaica that she and her terrified family were sheltering in their apartment. "I really pray that somebody will find the love in their heart and stop this right now. It is just too much, my brother," she said, over the sound of gunfire.

Masked gunmen swarmed around west Kingston trying to prevent the extradition of Christopher "Dudus" Coke, who has been indicted in New York on drug and arms trafficking charges. The US Justice Department says he is one of the world's most dangerous drug lords.

West Kingston includes Trenchtown, where reggae star Bob Marley was raised. Fighting spread to other volatile slums close to Kingston, in the south-east of the island, far from the tourist resorts on the north coast.

Gangsters loyal to Coke began barricading streets and preparing for battle immediately after prime minister Bruce Golding caved in to a growing public outcry over his opposition to extradition. He had claimed the US indictment relied on illegal wiretap evidence.

Security Minister Dwight Nelson said "police are on top of the situation" but gunfire was reported in several poor communities and gunmen even shot at Kingston's central police station.

Jamaica is the largest producer of marijuana in the Caribbean and the drug gangs have become powerful crime networks involved in international gun smuggling. It has one of the world's highest murder rates: the island of 2.8 million people had about 1,660 killings last year.

Coke heads one of the gangs known as "garrisons" that control politicised slums. Political parties created the gangs in the Seventies to garner votes. The gangs have since turned to drug trafficking, but each remains closely tied to a political party. Coke's gang is aligned with the ruling Labour party.

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