Person of Interest named in $600M Montego Bay narco bust
Published:Wednesday | May 4, 2022 | 9:21 PM
The St James police have named Presley Bingham, otherwise called 'Pressa', as a person of interest in the $600 million cash and drugs seizure in the parish last week.
Bingham is of a Torado Drive address in the parish.
He's being urged to immediately report to the Narcotics Division at 230 Spanish Town Road, Kingston 11, to facilitate the investigations.
The police released the name in a statement this evening.
The Jamaica Constabulary Force also confirmed earlier Gleaner reports that Oral Johnson, the businessman, whose arrest led cops to the massive drugs and cash seizure, was charged with possession of, dealing in, taking steps to export and trafficking cocaine.
He was detained on April 26 on reasonable suspicion for breaches of the Dangerous Drugs Act after 24 pounds of cocaine with a street value of $82.5 million was allegedly found in a car he was driving in the Coral Gardens area.
Johnson is from Garden District in Westmoreland.
The charges were laid after he was interviewed by detectives in the presence of his attorneys.
The cocaine seizure led cops to a house reportedly owned and occupied by Bingham in the Coral Gardens area, where US$3.8 million and CA$30,000 or a total of J$592 million, and additional cocaine were seized.
Bingham was arrested by local narcotics police in July 2009 but an effort to have him extradited to the United States failed a year later.
A female bartender was also arrested after she was allegedly held with a quantity of ganja during a secondary operation in St Elizabeth.
It's not clear whether Bingham is among the list of 17 persons of interest the St James police published on Tuesday.
Deputy Superintendent of Police, in charge of crime in St James, Clive Wright, provided details of some of the persons during an interview with The Gleaner.
Topping the list are David Brown, from Catherine Hall, Montego Bay, who is wanted in connection with the weekend killing of his common-law wife, Christie 'Kiddy' McBean, 20.
Wright and his team are also anxious to find Nickeelo Lewis, otherwise called 'Kilo', who reportedly operates out of the Lilliput area of St. James.
“He is a person of interest in at least three murders which occurred in Lilliput in the month of January,” the policeman said.
The DSP singled out two others.
They are Tevon Johnson, also known as 'Poppy', of a Crawford Street, Mt. Salem address, who allegedly engaged the police in a gunfight last month and Kenroy Roach, of Spring Mount, St. James, who is wanted for a murder committed in the parish last year.
Wright said the police conducted several operations in communities linked to the wanted persons but without any success.
He is calling on the communities to alert the police whenever the men are seen in the area.
“The information we have received indicates that these persons are still operating within their home communities, however, they are eluding the police,” Wright said.
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