PRIME Minister Bruce Golding last night described as scurrilous and malicious a report by the American television network ABC News linking him in a damaging way to Tivoli Gardens strongman and alleged drug lord Christopher Dudus Coke.

Dismissing the ABC News report as extremely offensive, Golding pointed out that it made damaging and libellous assertions that must be dismissed with the contempt that it deserves.

He also expressed outrage at an article in the UK newspaper The Independent that said that a drug gang was on the payroll of the Jamaican prime minister.

He said both publications, by seeking to link him personally with the alleged drug kingpin, were clearly part of a conspiracy to undermine the duly elected Government of Jamaica, a news release from Jamaica House said.

The ABC News report alleges that Coke has escaped from Tivoli Gardens and claims that Golding and other senior Jamaican officials were recently electronically intercepted talking to Coke inside his fortified redoubt.

The report, which also claims that the ruling Jamaica Labour Party was voted into power through Cokes strong-arm tactics, chronicles the police action to capture Coke, which began Monday morning.