JCF to step up ‘activities against gangs’
DCP says 31 Clansman gangsters arrested in ongoing operations
Published:Friday | December 29, 2023 | 12:12 AM
Tanesha Mundle/Staff Reporter
Following the revelation that 31 members of the original St Catherine-based Clansman Gang have been arrested and are awaiting charges for various serious crimes, the police yesterday warned that it will be ramping up its fight against gangs in the new year.
“Next year, 2024, will be a different year for us. We will be stepping up our activities against gangs. We will be going after them wherever they are. It doesn’t matter where they hide, we are going to find them,” warned Fitz Bailey, deputy commissioner of police (DCP) in charge of the crime portfolio.
The deputy commissioner’s warning comes amid a report of a significant reduction in the number of murders attributed to gang activities this year.
DCP Bailey highlighted that in 2018, gang violence acounted for 80 per cent of murders, but for this year, has been reduced to 67 per cent.
“It is evident that our anti-gang strategy is working, and I believe that we will continue this effort, and step by step, we will ensure that Jamaica is safer as we bring it to the gangs,” he said.
In the meantime, he is appealing to those who are involved in gang activities to surrender to the police.
“You need to step back a little and think about the danger you are causing to a nation. You need to step back and rethink your action, “DCP Bailey said.
Bailey made the comments yesterday at a press conference in which he disclosed that the police’s anti-gang efforts have resulted in the arrest of 31 alleged members of the Clansman Gang
The alleged gangsters were arrested in a nine-month-long series of operations spearheaded by the Counter Terrorism and Organised Crime Branch (CTOC) and carried out with the support of the Jamaica Defence Force and several other branches of the Jamaica Constabulary Force.
The DCP said the operation culminated yesterday with the arrest of several other alleged gangsters and the fatal shooting of Suman McFarlane, otherwise called “Max”, of Ellerslie Pen, St Catherine.
The 29-year labourer was reportedly shot and killed after he challenged members of the security forces during an anti-gang operation in Catherine.
Three illegal firearms and a quantity of ammunition were seized. A motor vehicle, cash, luxury items, and brand-name clothing estimated to value $3 million were also seized at a location in Old Harbour, St Catherine.
“To date, 31 members of the gang have been taken into custody. Those persons arrested are being held for several offences which include murder and shootings,” Bailey said.
According to him, the investigation focused primarily on a faction of the gang that is under the direction of incarcerated alleged gang leader Tesha Miller, otherwise called, “Hombre” of Dela Vega City in St Catherine.
Miller, who was convicted of charges of accessory before the fact to murder and accessory after the fact to murder in December 2019, is currently serving a 38 years and nine months sentence. This is in connection to the murder of the former chairman of the Jamaica Urban Transit Company, Douglas Chambers, outside a bus depot in Spanish Town, St Catherine, on June 27, 2008.
So far, Bailey said investigations have linked the Clansman Gang to at least 800 murders since 2014.
Additionally, he shared that the Clansman Gang is currently listed among the top five criminal organisations operating in Jamaica and carries out most of its operations in Spanish Town and its environs. It also has influence in the parishes of Clarendon, Manchester, St Ann, St James, and Kingston.
The police, in similar operations, had arrested over 50 members of the One Don faction of the Clansman Gang. Twenty of the men were freed in 2021 and 33 were hauled before the court in the largest anti-gang trial in the English-speaking Caribbean, which ended with conviction for 15. Seventeen were freed and one was killed.
Among those who were sentenced earlier this year was the leader of the One Don Gang Andre “Blackman” Bryan, who is currently serving 39 years and six months in prison following his conviction for being the leader of a criminal organisation and seven counts of facilitating the commission of serious offences by a criminal organisation to include murders and arson.
In the meantime, Bailey said the JCF would continue its focus on the disruption of criminal organisations where they are identified.
“We will use our skills, competencies, and technologies in our quest to create a secure environment for our citizens. We are cognisant that the task is daunting, but we are committed to our constitutional obligations and our mission to serve and protect, thus creating an environment in which there is a freedom of crime and fear of crime,” he said.
“We are cognisant that we are seven years away from our vision 2030, thus incumbent that we all unite as a nation against the greatest threat to achieving our objectives,” he asserted.