KINGSTON, Jamaica – A senior Jamaican public official has confirmed that their United States tourist visa was revoked while they were in the country on official business, according to The Sunday Gleaner.
The newspaper reported that US authorities also cancelled the tourist visas of two high-ranking Jamaican police officers who had travelled to the United States on separate assignments.
Citing multiple law-enforcement sources, The Sunday Gleaner said the three officials were among several Jamaican public-sector and security personnel whose visas were recently revoked.
Some operatives believe the action is intended to signal Washington’s dissatisfaction with the handling of a cocaine seizure involving the now-disbanded Counter Terrorism and Organised Crime Investigation Branch (C-TOC) of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF).
The sources claimed that US law-enforcement partners have been pressing Jamaican authorities for action amid allegations that officers assigned to C-TOC significantly under-reported the quantity of cocaine seized during an operation in Green Island, Hanover, last year.
The senior public official told The Sunday Gleaner that they had travelled to the United States as part of a delegation for talks.
“After the talks, it was decided that [future] admissibility [to the US] would not be granted. Then, one of the persons in authority over there indicated that the visa would no longer be required,” the official was quoted as saying.
One senior police officer was reportedly travelling through the United States en route to another country on official business when the officer was briefly detained, interviewed and informed that their tourist visa had been revoked.
The JCF said in a January 23 statement that an audit had uncovered two unauthorised parcels of cocaine in storage facilities at C-TOC.
According to the police, the audit followed the arrest and charge of Inspector Martin Walker, who was assigned to the division at the time.
Walker was allegedly found with a quantity of cocaine in his private motor vehicle during an operation on January 8.
Police Commissioner Dr Kevin Blake subsequently disbanded C-TOC and reassigned more than 40 officers attached to the specialised division.
The investigation became public two weeks ago when The Gleaner reported that the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA) had searched homes and other locations associated with at least two senior officers formerly assigned to C-TOC.
MOCA confirmed that it had executed search-and-seizure warrants at several locations across the Corporate Area as part of an ongoing investigation.
However, MOCA communications director Major Basil Jarrett declined to provide details, citing the sensitive nature of the probe.
The United States has previously used visa revocations as part of measures connected to immigration enforcement, public safety, national security and foreign policy.
In 2010, Washington revoked the US visas of several Jamaicans during a diplomatic dispute over the extradition of convicted drug trafficker Christopher “Dudus” Coke.
The administration of then prime minister Bruce Golding had initially resisted a US request for Coke’s extradition to face drug-trafficking charges.
Golding declined to comment on the latest report when contacted by The Sunday Gleaner. He recalled the visa cancellation of a prominent Jamaican businessman at the time but said no official explanation had been provided.
“As a matter of fact, it’s when [the businessman] went to the airport that he discovered that he couldn’t travel,” the former prime minister said.
