NEW YORK,  (Reuters) – Alleged drug kingpin  Christopher “Dudus” Coke was extradited to the United States yesterday to face narcotics trafficking charges, after waiving  his right to a trial in Jamaica.

Police arrested Coke, 42, on the outskirts of Kingston on  Tuesday, ending a five-week manhunt for the notorious fugitive  that began with deadly raids in the Jamaican capital.

He was handed over to U.S. drug enforcement agents and  flown to New York where he is expected to be arraigned in court  today on marijuana, cocaine and firearms trafficking  charges, U.S. Department of Justice officials said.

Coke waived his right to an extradition trial during a  brief court appearance in Kingston yesterday.

In a two-page typewritten statement issued through his  lawyer Tom Tavares Finson, Coke told the Jamaican court that he  was leaving with a heavy heart but convinced he would be  vindicated and eventually allowed to return to his Caribbean  homeland as a free man.

“Pray for me and God bless Jamaica,” Coke said.

He said he had taken the decision to waive his right to a  trial on his own free will and had “done so even though I’m of  the belief that my case would have been successfully argued in  the court of Jamaica.”

U.S. prosecutors have described him as the current leader  of the “Shower Posse” that murdered hundreds of people during  the cocaine wars of the 1980s.

Seventy-six people were killed in four days of gun battles  last month when police and soldiers stormed the Tivoli Gardens  slum in west Kingston in an attempt to take Coke into custody.

He commanded a private militia and his supporters burned  down two police stations and shot up four others in an attempt  to prevent Coke’s extradition during attacks that preceded last  month’s deadly raids.

“Everyone in the country has been adversely affected by the  process that has surrounded my extradition and I hope that my  actions today will go some way towards healing all who have  suffered and will be of benefit to the community of Tivoli  Gardens,” Coke said in his statement to the court.

“I deeply regret the unnecessary loss of life, both  civilians and members of the security forces.”
Coke was a strong supporter of the ruling Jamaica Labour  Party and wielded powerful influence in the west Kingston  slums. Jamaica initially refused to extradite him and the case  had strained relations between the United States and Jamaica.

When he was captured on Tuesday, he was in the company of a  clergyman who had arranged for Coke to bypass local police and  surrender at the U.S. Embassy in Kingston.

Jamaican police stopped them at a road checkpoint on the  way to the embassy, recognized Coke despite the curly-haired  wig he wore as a disguise and arrested him.

The minister, the Reverend Merrick “Al” Miller, was charged  yesterday with perverting the course of justice and harbouring  a fugitive.