Nembhard, Robroy Williams, Glenford Williams, Vivian Dalley and former Police Corporal Herbert Henry pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to import more than five kilograms of cocaine and more than 1,000 kilograms of marijuana into the United States, the US Attorney General's office said yesterday.

"Some of the assets they possess are in our jurisdiction and, to that extent, we will now be taking steps to ensure that they are forfeited to the Crown," Hinds told The Gleaner yesterday.

Possession of assets

Under the Proceeds of Crime Act of 2007, the State can take possession of assets belonging to persons who obtained them through illicit means such as drug dealing and money laundering.

Nembhard, whom US President George W. Bush called a drug kingpin, along with the four other Jamaicans, was extradited to the United States last year. They had been in Jamaican jails since 2004.

The extradition followed a sustained joint investigation among the Jamaican, United States, British and Colombian governments.

Meanwhile, Hinds has said the Financial Investigations Division is continuing its probe with a view to identifying and confiscating the assets of a former gang leader and multimillionaire Donovan 'Bulbie' Bennett, who was killed in a reported confrontation with the police in Tenarky, Clarendon, in October 2005.