MORE than one week after five people were arrested in connection with a $12-billion cocaine bust in St Andrew, it is not clear whether they have been charged by the police.

“I have not been informed that they have been charged. The investigation is ongoing,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Fitz Bailey, who heads the crime and security portfolio, told the Jamaica Observer on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, attorney Rodain Richardson provided some clarity on the circumstances under which people can be detained without charge, beyond 48 hours.

“In a very general sense the Bail Act 2023, Section 5, Subsection 4, sets out that where a defendant is arrested or detained on reasonable grounds of committing an offence and the offence is not listed in part one of the first schedule and the defendant has not been charged within 48 hours, the defendant should be released unconditionally,” he said.

“There are instances where things like an ID (identification) parade or other things need to take place, and the officials responsible to proffer charges are not able to do so as they require more time to do administrative things. They may apply to the judge for additional time for continued detention of persons who have been arrested and not yet charged and their offences fall under the first schedule,” Richardson added.

Last week’s drug bust ranks as one of the biggest cocaine seizures in Jamaica’s history.

In 2023 police seized cocaine of a similar street value at Kingston Freeport Terminal.

When the drugs were seized at that time a reliable police source told the
Observer that the contraband was concealed among the cargo of a vessel which had arrived from Colombia on January 13, 2023.

The drugs were found in 50 duffel bags after more than 30 containers were searched. It is not clear whether anyone was arrested in connection with that seizure last year.