Man found with $45k worth of coke to pay $1 million

A man who the authorities describe as a street-level drug dealer has been ordered to pay $1.1 million in pecuniary penalty to the government.

The man, Omar Thomas, 40, of a St Catherine address, pleaded guilty to cocaine-related charges in 2018, a year after police raided his property and found $45,000 worth of the dangerous drug.

He was fined a total of $650,000. Thomas was previously convicted of possession of cocaine in September 2003.

Following his 2018 conviction, the Financial Investigations Division (FID) successfully demonstrated to the court that Thomas benefited from a criminal lifestyle. Analysis undertaken by financial forensic examiners of the FID assessed his benefit from criminal conduct at approximately $1.85 million. He was ordered by the court to pay $1.1 million; $500,000 on May 8, 2023, followed by six monthly instalments of $100,000.

Defaulting on any payment attracts interest of 10 per cent per annum, and a prison term of up to five years be imposed. Upon release, he would still have to repay all outstanding amounts.

Keith Darien, the FID's principal director of investigations, said the pecuniary penalty order against Thomas should serve as a wake-up call to persons involved in criminal activities. He said that investigators will target both criminal enterprises and street-level lawbreakers who obtain their wealth from crime.

"We continue to caution persons to resist the urge to engage in crime as the FID and its partners remain resolute in identifying and forfeiting any asset which is derived from unlawful conduct," Darien said.