Jamaican police nab suspected drug lord

Alleged Jamaican drug lord Christopher (Dudus) Coke is in police custody and legal proceedings against him will get underway quickly, a Jamaican police official says.

At a news conference Tuesday evening, police Commissioner Owen Ellington said the 41-year-old is in police custody.

The Jamaican government wants to extradite Coke to the U.S., where he is wanted in connection with gun and drug trafficking charges.

Coke was captured Tuesday by police at a highway roadblock, Ellington said.  Rev. Al Miller, an influential evangelical preacher, said Coke was prepared to surrender to authorities at the U.S. Embassy in Kingston when police stopped his convoy on a highway outside the capital.

After his arrest, Coke was taken to a local police station, the Jamaica Observer reported. He was then transferred by military helicopter to an undisclosed secure location.

Coke's arrest comes nearly a month after 76 people were killed during five days of clashes between government forces and residents in the West Kingston slum of Tivoli Gardens, a neighbourhood that serves as Coke's base.

Police swept into the neighbourhood in May in a bid to find and detain Coke, but security forces encountered fierce resistance from Coke's followers.

U.S. authorities have called Coke one of the world's most dangerous drug lords. In New York, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said they're looking forward to working with Jamaican authorities to bring Coke to justice.