Barbara Gayle, Staff ReporterSt Ann businessman, Norris 'Deedo' Nembhard and four other Jamaican men have lost their legal battle in the Court of Appeal against their extradition orders.
It has been reported that United States marshals arrived here yesterday awaiting the outcome of the case to take the men to the US.
Nembhard, 52, and the other four men are wanted in the US to face charges of conspiracy to export cocaine to that country between 1998 and 2004.
The other men are: Police Corporal Herbert Henry, Robroy Williams, also called 'Spy', Glenford Williams and Vivian Dalley.
Norma Linton, QC told the court yesterday that the men would pursue their constitutional rights in the matter in court.
The men have been in custody since 2004 when Senior Resident Magistrate Martin Gayle made the extradition orders.
Colombian man freed
Colombian barber, Luis Miguel Avila Arias was also facing extradition.
But yesterday, he was set free by the Appeal Court which ruled that he should not be sent to the US because there was no evidence that he had knowledge that the cocaine was to be shipped beyond Jamaica.
The Court of Appeal comprised Justice Seymour Panton, Justice Howard Cooke and Justice Dennis Morrison.
They upheld submissions from attorney-at-law Jacqueline Cummings that in order to establish a prima facie case against Arias, the evidence must show that he had knowledge that the drugs were intended for importation and distribution in the United States.
The men were arrested as part of a major international crackdown in drug trafficking among the Jamaican, United States, British and Colombian governments.
They filed several grounds of appeal challenging their extradition. They also claimed that the documents on which the extradition was ordered were not authentic.
Nembhard contended that his designation by US President George W Bush as a drug kingpin would prevent him from getting a fair trial.
US prosecutors will be relying on the testimony of Delroy Williams, nephew of Robroy Williams, to prove the charges against the men.
The nephew was held at sea by Drug Enforcement Agency agents while he was transporting a shipment of cocaine from Colombia, which was taken to the US.
What is prima facie?
A case where elements of the offence appear to have been made out on the face of it.
