{"id":355720,"date":"2026-01-23T11:15:48","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T15:15:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/?p=355720"},"modified":"2026-01-23T12:14:47","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T16:14:47","slug":"wanted-man-captured-in-dominica-and-sent-back-home-to-face-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/homepage-carousel\/wanted-man-captured-in-dominica-and-sent-back-home-to-face-justice\/","title":{"rendered":"Wanted man captured in Dominica and sent back home to face justice"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_355722\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-355722\" style=\"width: 467px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-355722\" src=\"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Screenshot-2026-01-23-9.01.03-AM.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"467\" height=\"587\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-355722\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Screenshot of Merkyle Cooper<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>During \u2018Operation Clean Street\u2019 in the month of October, a St. Lucian national, Merkyle Cooper, was arrested in Dominica and charged simply with possession of cannabis, though it turned out that he was wanted by the St. Lucia authorities for serious criminal offences.<\/p>\n<p>According to information from the Commonwealth of Dominica Police Force (CDPF), at the time of arrest, he was fined $1,100, which he paid immediately.<\/p>\n<p>The police reported that during the course of the investigation, Cooper&#8217;s wanted status in St Lucia was discovered, and he was immediately taken into custody pending repatriation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn Thursday, 22nd January 2026, Cooper was successfully repatriated and handed over to the St. Lucia Police Force to face justice,\u201d the CDPF reported. \u201c This operation was made possible through the continued efforts and cooperation of the Commonwealth of Dominica Police Force and regional law-enforcement partners, demonstrating a strong commitment to regional security and justice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The CDPF also sent a strongly-worded warning to all criminal elements that Dominica is &#8220;not a hiding place.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnyone who commits crimes in other countries and believes they can come here to hide or evade justice will be tracked, arrested, and returned to face the law,\u201d the police warned. \u201c There is no safe haven for criminals in Dominica.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cooper&#8217;s exact charges were not revealed by officials.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"During \u2018Operation Clean Street\u2019 in the month of October, a St. Lucian national, Merkyle Cooper, was arrested in Dominica and charged simply with possession of cannabis, though it turned out that he was wanted by the St. Lucia authorities for&#8230;","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":355722,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":""},"categories":[19,235,9,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-355720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime-court-law","category-homepage-carousel","category-news","category-regional"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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