Kirk LaughlinJamaican police said they captured alleged drug kingpin Christopher “Dudus” Coke on the outskirts of Kingston on Tuesday.
Coke, 42, is wanted for extradition to the United States on drug trafficking and gun running charges. Police said they captured him in the Portmore area of St. Catherine Parish. There were no immediate reports of violence during the capture.
At least 73 people were killed in four days of gun battles last month when police and soldiers stormed the Tivoli Garden slum in Kingston in an attempt to take him into custody.
U.S. prosecutors have described Coke as the current leader of the “Shower Posse” that murdered hundreds of people by showering them with bullets during the cocaine wars of the 1980s.
Coke commanded a private militia and was a strong supporter of the ruling Jamaica Labor Party. Jamaica refused initial requests to extradite him to New York for trial after his indictment last year, and the case had strained relations between the United States and Jamaica.
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