NASSAU, BAHAMAS – The Court of Appeals yesterday ordered a 63-year-old Eleuthera man to surrender to police and await extradition to the United States where he is wanted for drug trafficking.
The appeals court, in a decision yesterday dismissing Roscoe Thompson’s appeal against his extradition, ordered the Eleuthera native to be surrendered to the custody of the Central Police Station by 2 p.m. yesterday for transmission to the Department of Bahamas Correctional Service, pending extradition. . Thompson was out on bail.
The Court of Appeal determined that the Thompson co-conspirators’ affidavits contained “sufficient direct and admissible affidavit evidence” such that it was reasonable for the trial judge who originally ordered his extradition to conclude that he had participated in a conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States.
The court noted that Thompson’s co-conspirators each identified him in a photograph as the person with whom they participated in the cocaine smuggling and that Thompson did not dispute that he was the individual in the photograph. .
“Therefore, it is clear that the appellant has been properly identified as the person with whom the co-conspirators conspired. Nor could the Appellant complain that it would be unfair to extradite him because of the passage of time, since extraditions have taken place in cases where the time has passed much longer between the commission of the offense and the date of extradition.
“Finally, the Appellant has provided no evidence to show that his conspiracy charges, and therefore his extradition request, violate the statute of limitations applicable to conspiracy in the requesting state,” the Court noted.
Thompson is wanted by the US government for an alleged conspiracy to distribute dangerous drugs – about five kilos of cocaine – within its borders. Thompson, from Wemyss Bight, Eleuthera was indicted by a grand jury on September 11, 2007.
It is alleged that he participated with Sergio Pantoja, Nelson Fernando Contento, Guillermo de la Rosa and others in a conspiracy to transport cocaine from Columbia to the United States using the Bahamas as a transshipment point. Prosecutors say Thompson received the cocaine from Columbia and arranged for its delivery to co-conspirators who would import and distribute the cocaine in the United States.
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