“Ninety” Knowles’ Constitutional Motion Dismissed

NASSAU, BAHAMAS – Jailed cocaine kingpin Samuel “Ninety” Knowles lost another legal battle in the Bahamian courts after a Supreme Court judge dismissed a constitutional motion over his 2006 extradition to Florida.

Knowles was sentenced to 35 years in prison in 2008 after he was convicted drug smuggling.
Federal prosecutors said he ran a drug trafficking organization that smuggled tons of cocaine from Colombia, Jamaica, The Bahamas into the United States.

Knowles’ lawyers argued that his constitutional rights were violated when the government handed him over to U.S. officials on August 28, 2006 while an appeal against the extradition order was pending.

Justice Andrew Forbes noted that the Court of Appeal ruled Knowles’ extradition lawful, although finding that the procedure had been breached.

As such, Justice Forbes said that a judicial review would have been a more appropriate action.
The judge also apologized for the length of time it took him to deliver the decision after he heard arguments in 2018.