Curacao man deported from Jamaica despite court stay
A Curacao national detained in Ocho Rios, St. Ann, Jamaica, in connection with a ganja-related taxi incident was deported on 11 April 2013 despite a court-ordered stay. His lawyers are seeking judicial review, claiming the authorities flagrantly disobeyed the court order.
Shurendy Quant, a Curacao man, was detained in Ocho Rios, St. Ann, while in a
taxi transporting ganja.[1]He was detained with the driver and two other
passengers; the driver was charged with possession of ganja and later released,
while the two other passengers were released without charge.[1]Quant was
detained without any reason being given.[1]
His lawyers, Carolyn Reid and Chuck Cameron, made a habeas corpus application
seeking his release, and the matter was adjourned until Monday, April 8.[1]A
deportation order was presented to the court, and an application for a stay was
subsequently filed in the Supreme Court.[1]On Wednesday the authorities
consented to the stay, but despite this Quant was deported on Thursday.[1]
The legal team is heading to court Friday to seek judicial review and determine
who will be held responsible for the flagrantly disobeyed court order.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Airport personnel at Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston found two pounds (about 0.91 kg) of vegetable matter resembling ganja in the suitcase of a 20-year-old Canadian passenger on 5 October 2025. He was arrested and later charged with possession, dealing and taking steps preparatory to exporting ganja, and a court date was being finalised.
Portmore police charged 71-year-old Austin McCalla, a farmer from Bellas Gate, Old Harbour, with possession of and dealing in ganja after police found over three pounds (about 1.36 kg) of the drug in a bag he dropped on Queens Avenue in Gregory Park, St Catherine. He was arrested and charged, and his court date was still being finalised.
Police in Falmouth, Trelawny, arrested a 33-year-old woman at a People's National Party meeting and seized a 9mm pistol with ten rounds and about one pound of ganja from her handbag. She was charged with illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition and with possession of and dealing in ganja, and was due in the Western Regional Gun Court on 26 June 2018.
A St Catherine parish court sentenced fisherman Gaffi Daley to a concurrent total of 16 months at hard labour and a J$800,000 fine or six months more after police stopped his car in Portmore with 490 pounds of compressed ganja on 3 June 2018. Police had described him as a major player in the drugs-for-guns trade.
Arrested 1Charged 1Cannabis 222.26 kgPrison 16 months at hard labour, concurrent
