Adrian Frater, News Editor

A section of the coastline in Trelawny where truckloads of sand were stolen in June. - Photo by Ketema Walker

Fishermen coasting along a Trelawny shoreline late one June night spotted men loading sand into trucks on a vacant beach. As they inched closer, they could see a police car and a front-end loader busy at work.

They could not understand how the popular property owner, a Rastaman, who claimed to be a friend of the environment, was wrecking the area's natural white sandy surface.

So, the fishermen made an urgent call to chastise the Rastaman for his errant way. That call was to lead to a trail of events that The Gleaner has followed in the case of the missing sand.

Ras Astor Black, an aspiring politician and businessman, like his neighbours, Felicitas Limited, was a victim of the sand crooks.

40 loads from Black's Flamingo

Felicitas had planned to establish a six-star beach resort to cater to high-end tourists at the property.

Of the estimated 500 truckloads of sand allegedly stolen from the 64-acre beachfront property, some 40 loads were taken from Black's Flamingo beach property.

"I lost between 20 and 40 truckloads from my property at Flamingo Beach near the Trelawny/St James border," Black told The Gleaner yesterday.

"I have the photograph of my sand at the property where it was taken to."

Just a few miles away at Braco in Trelawny, the thieves also dug into six properties. Desmond Leaky is one of the owners.

"I lost about 20 feet," Leaky, a retired politician, said.

He told The Gleaner yesterday that the stealing of sand from his property had become habitual within the last year and a half.

"It has been an ongoing thing and we have reported it to the police over time, but nothing has happened," Leaky said.

The retired politician said the thieves used the cover of rain and darkness to carry out their deed.

Leaky is awaiting police reports so that he may be able to proceed with legal action to claim damages.

Black, however, is not as optimistic of compensation.

"I believe I should be compensated but I seriously doubt that it will ever happen," Black said.

"I have no faith in the justice system. I can't see any justice trickling down to me," he continued.

Black undertook his own investigations on the theft of sand from his property after being informed by a group of fishermen about the daring deed. He said he immediately began his probe, which led him to a hotel in Montego Bay, St James.

Marked tarpaulin

"I saw the sand at the hotel and, interestingly, my marked tarpaulin was still in the sand," Black said. "I promptly reported the matter to both NEPA (National Environment and Planning Agency) and the police, but to the best of my knowledge, no proper investigation have been done."

According to Black, the theft has had a devastating impact on development plans for the Flamingo beach property, which is earmarked for a major reggae theme park and the proposed multimillion-dollar Bob Marley school for the arts.

"The surface has been radically transformed because of the removal of the sand, so it is bound to impact our development plans," Black noted.

"In addition, one also has to look at the environmental damage, which is one of the reasons why I am surprised that NEPA has not done any investigations."

Contacted yesterday, a NEPA spokesperson would only say that the agency has turned over its findings to the police and the matter was now a criminal investigation.

Spokesperson for the Jamaica Constabulary Force, Karl Angell, said police investigations were 95 per cent complete. "We are awaiting some forensic analysis of samples to complete the file," he told The Gleaner.

adrian.frater@gleanerjm.com

Left: Black: I have the photograph of my sand at the property where it was taken to. Right: Leaky: It has been an ongoing thing and we have reported it to the police over time, but nothing has happened.