Alleged drug traffickers extradited from St Vincent to BVI
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| Published on Saturday, June 19, 2010 |
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KINGSTOWN, St Vincent -- The St Vincent and the Grenadines government has extradited three Vincentians who are wanted in the British Virgin Islands on cocaine importation charges.
The men were put on a charted plane that landed at the ET Joshua Airport sometime after midday on Wednesday.
Dexter Chance, Gareth McDowall and Carlos Sutherland are reported to have imported 61 kilograms of cocaine into the BVI in 2008, which was discovered by law enforcement authorities in a yacht that landed in the BVI after leaving St Vincent and the Grenadines.
Another Vincentian, Chesley Balkaram, was arrested when the shipment of cocaine was discovered in a compartment in the yacht. He pleaded guilty and received a four-year sentence.
Balkaram is now expected to be a key witness in the case against the other three.
The BVI government had made a request to the St Vincent and the Grenadines government to have the men extradited and, in 2009, the Serious Offence Court ordered the extradition.
The men appealed the decision and late last month the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, which paved the way for the extradition.
Lawyers representing the three had served notice that they planned to take the matter to the Privy Council but the government acted and removed the men from the country. | | | | Reads : 1713 | | | |
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