WESTERN BUREAU:
A FUGITIVE, who escaped the United States justice system nineteen years ago and has been operating as a businessman in Jamaica, was nabbed in Montego Bay on Tuesday by local and overseas law enforcement officers.
The alleged felon is 58 year-old Sidique Bushay Mohamed, the managing director of Buccaneer Beach Hotel, located on Kent Avenue in the western city.
Mohamed has since been charged with obtaining a Jamaican passport by fraudulent means, unlawful possession of a Jamaican passport and breaches of the Immigration Act. He was remanded in custody until July 20, when he appeared before the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court on Wednesday.
An extradition warrant is in place for him as it is alleged that he escaped custody in California where he was serving a seven-year sentence for possession with intent to distribute cocaine," said Assistant Commissioner of Police Keith 'Trinity' Gardener, head of the Area One Police Division.
"He will have to prove that he is a Jamaican or he will face deportation. If he is a Jamaican, extradition proceedings against him will begin," Gardener added.
SEARCH WARRANT
The Gleaner understands that a team from Area One Police Division comprising immigration officers accompanied by agents from the U.S. Marshals office went to Mohamed's home on Kent Avenue in Montego Bay with a search warrant.
"A fraudulent Jamaican birth certificate used to obtain a Jamaican passport was found along with a Trinidad and Tobago birth certificate in the said name," ACP Gardener disclosed.
The local police believe that Mohamed is originally from San Fernando in Trinidad and records show that he frequents Cali in Columbia and Aruba.
ACP Gardener said that Mohamed gave his place of birth as Sandy Bay, Hanover, and got a Jamaican passport in 1986. He applied for another and gave his place of birth as St. Catherine, and there was a third application in 2003 in which he listed his place of birth as Kingston.
