Press Release
JAMAICAN DRUG KINGPIN LEEBERT RAMCHARAN SENTENCED TO 35 YEARS ON FEDERAL DRUG CHARGES
May 23, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Mark R. Trouville, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration, announced that defendant Leebert Ramcharan, a U.S. White House-designated Drug Kingpin, was sentenced today by U.S. District Court Judge Patricia A. Seitz to 440 months' imprisonment on his March 5, 2008 conviction on charges of conspiracy to import and conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute five (5) kilograms or more of cocaine.
Ramcharan and co-defendant Williams, who was also convicted at trial, were arrested in the Montego Bay area of Jamaica in 2004, and extradited from Jamaica to the United States in 2007, after their extradition was approved by the Jamaican Supreme Court. According to the evidence presented at trial, defendant Ramcharan was the leader of a sophisticated cocaine smuggling operation in Jamaica. From 1998 through 2004, this drug organization received as much as fifteen (15) thousand kilograms of cocaine imported via go fast vessels from the Northern Coast of Colombia. The cocaine was then stored in Jamaica, and subsequently it was transported to the Bahamas on boats and airplanes. Ultimately, the cocaine was imported into the U.S. for distribution and sale in South Florida.
Mr. Acosta commended the extraordinary cooperation of the Colombian National Police, the Jamaican Constabulary Force, the Royal Bahamian Police Force, and the Drug Enforcement Administration, Miami Field Division, Jamaican Country Office, Bahamian Country Office and Bogota Country Office. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Alicia Shick and Arthur Wyatt.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
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