Jamaican Norman Ramcharan was yesterday sentenced to seven years and six months in a British prison for money laundering, eight months after his brother, Leebert Ramcharan, was arrested by narcotics police in Montego Bay on drug charges.

Norman Ramcharan, who appeared in the Blackfairs Crown Court in the United Kingdom along with Everton Dennis of Holland Park, London, is ranked among the top 10 Jamaican-based cocaine traffickers by Jamaican, United States and British authorities. His brother, Leebert, was earlier this year named on a list of international drug kingpins by US President George W Bush.

Dennis, who the British police describe as Ramcharan’s ‘right-hand man’, will serve five years in prison. Both men were charged on February 8, 2004 with conspiracy offences under the proceeds of Crime Act 2002, the British High Commission said in a news release yesterday. They pleaded guilty to the charges on October 7.

Ramcharan, 50, from Montego Bay, was convicted for laundering £1.7 million which the British authorities say are the proceeds from cocaine trafficking.

“The success of this investigation has dealt a major blow to drugs trafficking groups who target the UK,” Customs Minister and Paymaster General to the UK Treasury Dawn Primarolo said. “By tackling money laundering, we are cutting off the lifeblood of criminal networks.”

According to the British authorities, Ramcharan arrived in the UK from Jamaica in January this year for a stomach stapling operation at a private hospital in the north of England.

“After convalescing, he booked into a top central London hotel where he was placed under surveillance by Customs officers,” the British High Commission said.

“During this time, he met with Mr Dennis in and around the hotel to discuss schemes to launder the proceeds of cocaine trafficking between Jamaica, The Netherlands and the UK,” the High Commission said. “It is believed that the proceeds from the cocaine trafficking were to be routed back to Jamaica via the UK.”

Ramcharan, the British authorities said, was arrested at Heathrow Airport in February as he was about to board a plane to Jamaica.

The British authorities said a torn receipt found in a garbage bin inside Ramcharan’s hotel room led them to a package containing cheques worth £32,000 which was sent from London to Jamaica. The cheques were believed to have been cashed in Jamaica as part of a money laundering operation.

Two days before Ramcharan’s arrest, Dennis was held at Euston Station in London after travelling to Manchester where Customs officers observed him purchasing a black suitcase. They said that more than £69,000 was found in his possession. The money was seized and Dennis was granted bail.

He was, however, re-arrested two days later (the same day Ramcharan was held).

Ramcharan was granted bail, but the British cops say he was held on September 17 trying to flee the country. He was found hiding under a sheet of chipboard in the back of a transit van at the Channel Tunnel Terminal in Folkestone, Kent.

In March this year, Leebert Ramcharan and Donovan “Plucky” Williams were held by narcotics police in Montego Bay after raids on both their homes.

Both men were charged with possession of cocaine and conspiracy to import and distribute the drug. A third charge of attempting to import 1,422 pounds (647 kilograms) of cocaine into the United States was thrown out by the local court because of insufficient evidence.