Operation Jasper charges 8 in New York arm of Jamaican marijuana ring
Federal prosecutors unsealed complaints on 9 May 2005 charging eight people with distributing high-grade marijuana across New York City for a Jamaican trafficking organization, as part of the multi-state Operation Jasper. The operation had produced 23 arrests to date, with the network moving marijuana from Arizona by mail and parcel services.
🇺🇸 New York City, New York · New York, United States
Arrested
23
Charged
8
Agencies
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), 🇺🇸DEA
On 9 May 2005, the US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York announced complaints charging eight defendants with distributing large quantities of marijuana in Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island.[1]Dennis Vassel and Raymond Panton led the New York arm of the organization, while others lined up customers and accepted packages of marijuana mailed through private shippers and the postal service, and Ardean Buggs distributed the drug in South Carolina.[1]The marijuana came from an Arizona supplier, sold for as much as $2,200 a pound, and proceeds went back as money orders or tightly wrapped bundles of cash, including three seized packages holding more than $50,000.[1]
A multi-state Jamaican network
The charges were part of Operation Jasper, a multi-agency effort coordinated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement with the DEA and agencies in New York, South Carolina, Florida and Arizona to dismantle a Jamaican criminal organization operating across the United States.[1]To date the operation had produced 23 arrests, with criminal charges against about 20 more people, and the investigation was continuing.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Cameron County deputies arrested Farid Sadek Khouane after a search warrant at his home on Varela Court in Brownsville. Deputies reported seizing just over 13 ounces of marijuana, 49 THC pens, suspected cocaine, three weapons and cash.
SWAT operators and the Border Belt Drug Task Force searched a home on Stanton Road southeast of Maxton, North Carolina, on 12 November 2026 and seized cocaine, Suboxone strips, prescription pills, marijuana and a firearm. Tommy Dale Barnes, 40, surrendered the next day and faces charges including possession with intent to sell and deliver marijuana, held on a $1.1 million secured bond.
Chad Andrew Chandler, 42, of Rockmart was arrested after allegedly fleeing a Polk County officer on New Prospect Road and being found with marijuana. He faces marijuana possession and other charges including crossing the guard line with drugs, giving false information, obstruction and a bicycle equipment violation.
Florence County sheriff's deputies, with the SWAT team, executed a search warrant on an Ossie Lane home in Florence after an undercover operation and arrested Jack Randall Newsome, 48. He faces charges including distribution and trafficking in methamphetamine, possession of a controlled substance (marijuana) and flunitrazepam, and is held at the county detention centre awaiting a bond hearing.
