THERE WERE disturbing news reports last week that organised crime may be finally succeeding in its attempts to spread its tentacles to areas of rural Jamaica. Recent media reports indicate that local thugs are attempting to set up replicas in their communities of the underworld systems that currently plague the Corporate Area and Spanish Town.
There had been clear warning signs that it would only be a matter of time before the criminal underworld would attempt to duplicate itself in other commercial centres outside of the Kingston Metropolitan Area. Last year, a letter typed on a 'One Order' letterhead made the rounds among the corporate interests in May Pen, Clarendon. The letter threatened certain violence if extortion money was not paid over as demanded. Now, over a year later, it is clear that May Pen may be the next frontier of criminal enterprise, the murder of businessman Maurice Azan in a robbery attempt being but one indication.
Now, there are reports of extortion of businessmen and taxi operators in Falmouth, Trelawny, by gangs of young men. They have reportedly stepped up their threats and attempts at intimidation; a shop was firebombed, and in a separate incident, one man was shot in a feud between rival gangs in the area. In St. Mary, a policeman sitting in a bar challenged three gunmen in Tower Isle, St. Mary. The policeman was shot, and one of the gunmen killed. In Westmoreland, a brazen robbery attempt at the Super Plus wholesale store by four men resulted in a shoot-out that ended with the four would-be robbers being shot dead by police and by angry residents using machetes.
The spread of such criminal activity outside the traditional hotbeds of the Corporate Area is a worrying sign. Some analysts believe that the increase in robberies can be attributed to highly mobile gangs who use the network of roads to commit crimes and escape to neighbouring parishes. But what is even more disturbing is the attempt to import the concept of 'organised crime' into rural areas.
High rates of unemployment provide an incentive for criminal minds to hatch nefarious schemes to prey on the law-abiding populace. The police must act now to safeguard law and order in these rural areas which are under threat from the unabated violence.
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