Eleven Jamaica Constabulary Force members who were served notices in 2005 that they were to be retired in the public interest for alleged criminal activities are no longer in the police force.

The Court of Appeal dismissed their appeal Friday and will hand down its written reasons at a later date.

After they filed their appeal, the Court of Appeal had ordered that they should remain on the job until their appeal was heard and determined.

They were notified in December 2005 that they were to be retired in the public interest, but challenged the decision of the Police Service Commission in the Supreme Court.

Alleged illegal activities

The Police Service Commission decided on December 16, 2005, that the police personnel were to be retired because of their alleged involvement in illegal activities. It was alleged that some of them were involved in a drug-smuggling ring which gave protection to drug couriers travelling through the airports.

Some of the defendants were attached to the Narcotics Division's branch in Montego Bay, while others were attached to other police units in the second city. They are Detective Sergeant Dalton Samuels, Corporal Norma Porter-Thaxter, Detective Corporal Ryan Dwyer, corporals Enos Williams, Teeshan Gordon and Joy Streete and constables Kenneth Brown, Oral Hylton, Owen Condell, Dwayne Mullings and Elvid Vassell.

Attorneys-at-law Foster Pusey and Amina McNoon who represented the Police Service Commission opposed the application on the grounds that the PSC had the discretion to retire them in the public interest under Regulation 26 of the Police Service Regulations.

The appellants who were represented by Lord Anthony Gifford, QC, and attorney-at-law Wentworth Charles had first taken the issue to the Judicial Review Court seeking to have their dismissals quashed but their motion was dismissed. They appealed the court's ruling and lost.