With the help of the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA), three people were found guilty on Wednesday in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court of mailing cocaine packages overseas.
Yasheka James, Leroy Adamson, and Ashane Bennett were convicted of two counts of conspiracy to export cocaine, two counts of taking steps preparatory to export cocaine, two counts of attempting to export cocaine and four counts of using the postal service for drugs.
In a release from MOCA, the three were convicted before Senior Parish Judge Mrs P Blake Powell on multiple charges related to the illegal exportation of cocaine through the Jamaican postal service.
Facts are on June 8 and 9, 2020, Adamson and James conspired to export cocaine via the Mandeville Post Office, and James and Bennett repeated the scheme at the Santa Cruz Post Office in St Elizabeth.
The packages of illegal substances were mailed to overseas addresses.
According to Major Basil Jarrett, Director of Communications at MOCA, “MOCA agents staged an operation at the Central Sorting Office in Kingston and intercepted the suspicious parcels. A subsequent forensic analysis by the Institute of Forensic Science and Legal Medicine confirmed that both packages contained cocaine”
The Crown was represented by Mrs Kamara Sterling of MOCA’s Legal and Prosecutorial Services Unit, acting on Fiat from the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Attorneys Kemar Robinson and Terisha Grant represented the accused.
“This conviction highlights the increasing sophistication of criminal networks and underscores the critical role of inter-agency collaboration in dismantling drug
trafficking operations,” said Jarrett.
“It also sends a clear message that exploiting public infrastructure for criminal gain will be met with the full force of the law,” he added.
The date of sentencing is September 29, 2025.
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