Lead Stories

Mark Beckford, Staff Reporter

THE NUMBER of guns found, as well as the sophistication of the resistance which the security forces encountered in west Kingston, were revealed yesterday during a press conference at the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) headquarters at Up Park Camp in St Andrew.

A tale of a well-fortified Tivoli Gardens community was presented yesterday, with the security forces painting a picture, with the aid of photographs and videos, that criminal elements in the downtown Kingston enclave utilised several methods to present hazards for law enforcement.

Pictures and videos obtained through surveillance by the military of several checkpoints, improvised explosive devices (IED), men walking around with guns, men setting up firing positions, booby-trapped barricades and gullies inside the community leading to the Kingston Harbour added to the aura in the general public of Tivoli Gardens as a well-organised criminal operation.

"The insertion into the area was not going to be a simple task, as the high level of fortification and number of firing positions seen inside the area would have made it difficult. This, coupled with the large-scale barricading which was done to the main entries, made the military task a more arduous one," Major Richard Blackwood, civil-military officer, said.

He explained that it took up to three hours for the security forces to move over 200 metres - a journey which would have taken three minutes - because of the gunfire from criminal elements.

Blackwood said the military had to plan carefully to counter these threats, and this included the use of explosives to gain entrance through the wall into the community.

The number of firearms found in west Kingston now stands at 22. This is 16 more than the number recovered by the security forces on Thursday.

Updated figures

This updated figure was revealed at a press conference held at the Jamaica Defence Force headquarters at Up Park Camp, St Andrew, yesterday.

It was also revealed that the subject of the invasion, Michael Christopher Coke, otherwise called 'Dudus', was still on the run, meaning that the operation was still an ongoing one.

"The very latest we have on him we wouldn't share with you; but we can tell you it's an ongoing operation. We are following every lead that we have and, as we speak now, there are several coordinated operations going on around Jamaica based on intelligence items coming in to us," Commissioner of Police Owen Ellington said.

The number of dead still remained at 73 persons, with two being females. Commissioner Ellington indicated that some of the men were dressed as women, apparently in reference to residents' claims that more women had been killed in the operation.

No secret burning

Commissioner Ellington also reiterated that there had been no secretive burning or burying of bodies. He also said a decision was taken on Wednesday not to bury the bodies. He also welcomed anyone to go to the May Pen Cemetery to examine the grounds to determine whether fresh graves had been dug.

"What happened is that there were several bodies that were so badly decomposed that the undertakers told us that they could not take them into storage, they had to be buried early," said Ellington.

"As a normal procedure in Jamaica, arrangements were made for those bodies to be collected by the undertakers. They were put in coffins; they were taken into the cemetery; we brought the pathologist in; autopsies were performed on the spot; blood samples were taken; photographs were taken," he said.

Bodies at madden's

Commissioner Ellington said the bodies were being held at Madden's funeral home in Kingston, at the Spanish Town morgue, and at an undisclosed location in Kingston.

He said post-mortems would be conducted early next week.

The police chief said that the residents would be able to inspect photographs next week to identify if their relatives were among the number of civilians killed in the operation.

He also revealed that restrictions had been lifted on the residents in Tivoli Gardens and Denham Town and they were now able to walk around.

The police also said of the 708 men who were detained in west Kingston, 200 have since been released.

This means that just over 500 remain in detention at the National Arena, where they are being processed.