Police disrupt murderous Dexter St Gang
Published:Wednesday | May 16, 2018 | 4:30 PMLivern Barrett/Senior Gleaner Writer
Police investigators believe that they have "significantly disrupted" the murderous rampage of the Dexter Street gang following the arrest of 17 members of the Westmoreland-based network.
According to Assistant Commissioner of Police Fitz Bailey, the gang has been linked to nearly 40 murders across western Jamaica during the last 17 months.
"The gang is responsible for or linked to more than 17 murders and 27 shooting incidents in 2017," Bailey told journalists during a press conference yesterday morning.
"Since the beginning of the year, 22 murders and several shootings have also been linked to this gang," added Bailey, head of the Counter-Terrorism and Organised Crime Branch (C-TOC).
The 17 alleged gangsters - 13 males and four females - have been charged under the so-called anti-gang legislation and were scheduled to appear before the Home Circuit Court in downtown Kingston, yesterday.
Bailey said that the man believed to be the leader of the gang and it's main financier, Shadane Patrick Robinson, also known as Gorgan, remained on the run.
According to the C-TOC boss, Robinson was charged with murder and granted bail and was believed to have fled the island for the United States.
He said that investigators believed that two other members of the gang who are wanted by the police - Oshane Rankine, also called Shabba, and Juwayne Barnes, also called Spent Shell - have also fled to the US.
Bailey revealed that the Dexter Street gang landed on the police radar after a container with 19 firearms and nearly 4,000 assorted rounds of ammunition was intercepted at the Kingston Container Terminal on November 17 last year.
"In fact, the consignment was destined for that gang, the Dexter Street gang," he said.