News Briefs

Teen drowns at St Thomas beach

The body of a teenage boy, who was suspected to have drowned in St Thomas on Sunday, was yesterday morning retrieved from the sea by two fishermen in the vicinity of the Morant Bay fishing village.

He has been identified as 17-year-old Ronaldo Livingston, a student of the Seaforth High School and a resident of Johns Town in the eastern parish.

The police said that about 2 p.m. on Sunday, Livingston and his friends were swimming at the beach at the Morant Bay fishing village when he reportedly got into difficulties.

Efforts to save him were unsuccessful and he disappeared in the water.

Livingston’s drowning comes on the heels of another similar incident less than a month ago.

In that case, the body of a 12-year-old boy was fished from the sea a day after he was suspected to have drowned.

Shanna Monteith

 

Cops nab four in drug bust

Police and customs officials seized approximately 10.2 kilograms of cocaine on a vessel at a Kingston Container Terminal on Sunday, July 28.

Reports are that about 3:15 a.m., while the containers were being offloaded from the vessel which arrived from Colombia, eight packages of cocaine were found in the possession of one of the stevedores by members of the team.

The police and the Jamaica Customs Contraband Enforcement Team were contacted, and a search of the vessel revealed an additional 10 packages of cocaine concealed under the spare anchor on the bow.

Four stevedores were taken into custody.

The drug has an estimated street value of $13.3 million.

 

UWI to partner with University of Glasgow on slavery research

KINGSTON, Jamaica (CMC):

The University of the West Indies (UWI) says it will sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the University of Glasgow to study the effects of slavery and possible reparations.

The UWI said that the MOU, which will be signed tomorrow, is part of a programme of reparative justice that will result in the establishment of a joint Glasgow-Caribbean Centre for Development Research.

It said the partnership agreement was reached following a landmark study which the University of Glasgow undertook into the extent to which it benefited from the proceeds of slavery during the 18th and 19th centuries.

 

Two J’cans jailed for cocaine smuggling

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (AP):

Two Jamaican men have received prison time in separate cases for trying to smuggle cocaine through a North Carolina airport in their suitcases.

Federal prosecutors said in a news release that Keshon Kevino Hawthorne flew into Charlotte on his way to New York with cocaine hidden in two suitcases last year. He received 33 months in prison on Thursday, July 18 after previously pleading guilty to cocaine-related charges.

Prosecutors say Christopher Anthony Samuels was sentenced to 30 months in prison last week on cocaine-related charges. Authorities say they found bags containing cocaine hidden in the liners of his suitcase when he flew into Charlotte, also on his way to New York last year.

Defence attorneys didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment.

Prosecutors say both cases resulted from a Homeland Security airport drug initiative.