THIRTY-FIVE men were picked up yesterday during a morning sweep of several Corporate Area communities and Spanish Town by Operation Kingfish, the elite crime-fighting unit of the Jamaica Constabulary Force.
Reports reaching The Gleaner are that about 22 of the men were picked up in Spanish Town, another was taken from the normally quiet township of Port Royal in eastern Kingston, and several were held in the Maxfield Avenue area of Kingston.
Up to yesterday afternoon, detectives attached to Operation Kingfish said the detainees were taken to the Mobile Reserve headquarters at Up Park Camp. Some were processed and released.
SASHA-KAY BROWN MURDER
But at least two of the detainees were handed over to the Kingston West police, who will be conducting further investigations to establish if they were involved in the September incident, in which 10-year-old Sasha-Kay Brown, her aunt and grandparents perished in a fire which razed their home on Barnes Avenue, off Maxfield Avenue in Kingston
Their five-bedroom house was set ablaze by heavily armed gunmen who had invaded the community. Head of Operation Kingfish, Assistant Commissioner Glenmore Hinds, said Port Royal was targeted based on intelligence.
"Our intelligence has shown that a number of wanted (persons) were frequenting Port Royal, plus there have been some reports of shooting in the area several days ago," said the divisional commander, Superintendent Doric Sinclair.
- G.S.
