Charged with trafficking cocaine

"Taken from our C R I M E section.

A 27-YEAR-OLD Trinidad and Tobago rugby player was arrested at his Gasparillo home yesterday morning on a provisional warrant for his extradition to the United States to face drug trafficking charges.

Mark Kurt Hamilton of Nadine Street was held at about 10 am by members of the Organised Crime, Narcotics and Firearms Bureau and the Counter Crime and Drugs Task Force.

The warrant for Hamilton’s arrest was signed on May 25, by Chief Magistrate Sherman Mc Nicolls, but it was only yesterday that the police were able to locate him.

Newsday learnt the police team surrounded Hamilton’s home, arrested him and took him to Port-of-Spain where he was processed and by 1.15 pm, was before Chief Magistrate Mc Nicolls in the Eighth Court where the four charges were read to him.

Dressed in a sleeveless vest and trousers, Hamilton was charged with conspiracy to traffic cocaine; conspiracy to possess cocaine; possession of cocaine and trafficking a dangerous drug, namely cocaine. The offences were alleged to have occurred in New York.

David West, who represents the US Government, objected to bail and asked that the case be put to today by which time, Hamilton may have a lawyer. It is expected that Hamilton may adopt a certain course today.

Mc Nicolls remanded Hamilton into custody but advised him of his right to apply to a judge in chambers for bail. This is the second time that Hamilton has had a brush with the law. At age 16, he committed robbery with other members of a gang and was sentenced to three years at the Youth Training Centre (YTC) in Arouca.

It was while at YTC that he met the Centre’s rugby coach Wayne Albert and was introduced to the sport. He then joined Northerns Rugby Club in the Trinidad and Tobago Rugby Football Union competition. At age 17, Hamilton was selected on the national team as a winger.

In an article published in Newsday on February 27, 2000, Hamilton said rugby changed his life, that he had gotten married to a nurse and was starting his life all over again. In that interview, Hamilton had a message for the youths — “in a life of crime, nobody lasts forever.”

About his gang, he said some members were dead, some were in prison and others became law-abiding citizens like himself. Rugby officials were in a state of shock yesterday about Hamilton’s arrest.