Wanted men held in operation by security forces

A joint police-military operation that was carried out in sections of Westmoreland yesterday led to the apprehension of several wanted men.

The operation started shortly after 5 a.m., with officers from the Jamaica Defence Force, the Counter-Terrorism and Major Organised Crime Unit, Mobile Reserve, and other law-enforcement agencies being dispatched in their numbers to Grange Hill and other troubled communities in the parish.

Superintendent Mevarol Smith, who is in charge of operations for the Counter-Terrorism and Organised Crime Unit, told The Gleaner that the operation so far had been successful.

"We journeyed out of Kingston and joined up with Mobile Reserve and some other organisations from within the Jamaica Constabulary Force," Smith said, adding that members of the security forces were clamping down on crime in the parish.

The senior cop refused to reveal the identity of the persons detained in the operation at this time.

Earlier this year, the security forces targeted Grange Hill in Westmoreland following the killing of seven persons and the wounding of nine others within 24 hours.

Minister of National Security Dr Horace Chang and Commissioner of Police Major General Antony Anderson, who visited the community after the incidents, gave residents the assurance that they would focus on the area.

However, gunmen again went on a shooting spree in the area, ending the life of a 16- year-old high school student and shooting and wounding three others.