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Our justice system, our worst enemy
On radio yesterday, Steve Brown of Kingfish said that German was released by our courts 3 months ago, not on bail, but for whatever reason the court saw fit. (I have no idea why it's being reported that he was out on bail, because Brown was specifically asked and he said no. Heard it myself. Nevertheless...) According to Brown, the case against him was strong, but to his surprise, the courts did not see it fit to keep German behind bars. Imagine how much drugs were traded for guns since his release!
Now when I say justice sytem, the police is included in that lot, but I am not excusing our judges one bit. It is these same judges that did not have a problem with questionable jury members during the Kraal trial. And we can list a heap of other wrong decisions made by our judges, or some ridiculous guidelines they give to the jury. Yes, even the Vaz ruling could be flawed, given their sad history!
13 guns seized, three men held in Heroes Circle
Taximan caught in gunfight shot dead; two on the run
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
The guns and ammunition seized by the police at Heroes Circle in Kingston yesterday morning. (Photo: Lionel Rookwood)
POLICE yesterday seized 13 firearms and held three men, one of whom was described as a major arms trafficker, during an early morning operation at Heroes Circle in Kingston.
An unidentified man, later said to be a taxi operator, was shot and killed in an alleged gunfight between the police and gunmen during the operation, carried out shortly after 1:00 am.
Police combed the area up to late afternoon yesterday in search of two men who escaped the dragnet set up by officers from Operation Kingfish and the Special Anti-Crime Task Force.
Police gave the name of the alleged arms trafficker as 'German', who officers said was one of the leading players in the guns-for-drugs trade operating between Jamaica and its French-speaking neighbour, Haiti.
German, according to spokesman for Operation Kingfish, Inspector Steve Brown, was out on bail after he was arrested in a 'get-the-guns' initiative in Hellshire, St Catherine three months ago.
"We have been doing a lot of work around him. He is one of the biggest characters in this thing and we intend to question him about the incident. We have also identified most of the persons in his syndicate and as we speak our investigators are going after them," Brown told reporters at a press conference at the Scene of Crime head office in Kingston yesterday.
Police said the men were travelling in a blue Toyota station wagon and a grey motor car from a dock in Kingston. The 13 weapons, the police added, were believed to have been loaded from a boat which departed the Haitian coast late Monday night.
According to the police, the men disobeyed signals by the police to stop and proceeded towards Heroes Circle where they were again signalled to stop by the lawmen. This time, the police said, the men opened fire at a patrol and tried to flee from their vehicles.
The police said the gunfire was returned and following the gunfight the taxi operator was found dead and three of the men said to be travelling in the vehicles held. Two others made quick escapes.
An M14 rifle, eight 9mm semi-automatic pistols, four revolvers and just under 400 assorted rounds of ammunition were subsequently seized.
".For us that is a major dent in the drugs-for-guns trade between Jamaica and Haiti and we want to just keep the appeal out to citizens that when they have information about illegal guns they should give us a call so we can come and get them," said Brown.
Yesterday's find added to a haul of over 231 guns seized by the security forces since the start of the year.
Now when I say justice sytem, the police is included in that lot, but I am not excusing our judges one bit. It is these same judges that did not have a problem with questionable jury members during the Kraal trial. And we can list a heap of other wrong decisions made by our judges, or some ridiculous guidelines they give to the jury. Yes, even the Vaz ruling could be flawed, given their sad history!
13 guns seized, three men held in Heroes Circle
Taximan caught in gunfight shot dead; two on the run
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
The guns and ammunition seized by the police at Heroes Circle in Kingston yesterday morning. (Photo: Lionel Rookwood)POLICE yesterday seized 13 firearms and held three men, one of whom was described as a major arms trafficker, during an early morning operation at Heroes Circle in Kingston.
An unidentified man, later said to be a taxi operator, was shot and killed in an alleged gunfight between the police and gunmen during the operation, carried out shortly after 1:00 am.
Police combed the area up to late afternoon yesterday in search of two men who escaped the dragnet set up by officers from Operation Kingfish and the Special Anti-Crime Task Force.
Police gave the name of the alleged arms trafficker as 'German', who officers said was one of the leading players in the guns-for-drugs trade operating between Jamaica and its French-speaking neighbour, Haiti.
German, according to spokesman for Operation Kingfish, Inspector Steve Brown, was out on bail after he was arrested in a 'get-the-guns' initiative in Hellshire, St Catherine three months ago.
"We have been doing a lot of work around him. He is one of the biggest characters in this thing and we intend to question him about the incident. We have also identified most of the persons in his syndicate and as we speak our investigators are going after them," Brown told reporters at a press conference at the Scene of Crime head office in Kingston yesterday.
Police said the men were travelling in a blue Toyota station wagon and a grey motor car from a dock in Kingston. The 13 weapons, the police added, were believed to have been loaded from a boat which departed the Haitian coast late Monday night.
According to the police, the men disobeyed signals by the police to stop and proceeded towards Heroes Circle where they were again signalled to stop by the lawmen. This time, the police said, the men opened fire at a patrol and tried to flee from their vehicles.
The police said the gunfire was returned and following the gunfight the taxi operator was found dead and three of the men said to be travelling in the vehicles held. Two others made quick escapes.
An M14 rifle, eight 9mm semi-automatic pistols, four revolvers and just under 400 assorted rounds of ammunition were subsequently seized.
".For us that is a major dent in the drugs-for-guns trade between Jamaica and Haiti and we want to just keep the appeal out to citizens that when they have information about illegal guns they should give us a call so we can come and get them," said Brown.
Yesterday's find added to a haul of over 231 guns seized by the security forces since the start of the year.
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