Tag: Caribbean Crime

An Ex-Associate Of Dancehall Artist Vybz Kartel Killed In St Catherine Drive By

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Dancehall artist Vybz Kartel

A man known to be the former associate of Vybz Kartel, businessman Jamie Ridley was shot during a drive by this morning in the Portmore, St. Catherine parish of Jamaica.

Ridley’s girlfriend “Poochie”, a well known entertainment personality was also shot in ambush.

The incident happened during a fish fry held by Portmore dance personality, Diamond.

The only person killed in the drive by was the 34-year-old businessman Jamie Ridley.

According to local news reports, the incident occurred at about 1:30 am, when a Toyota Corolla pulled up, occupied by an unknown number of gunmen, and allegedly opened gunfire hitting Ridley and two others.

An off duty officer was at the scene, but the shooters were still able to escape.

Ridley’s girlfriend, “Poochie” was taken to hospital.

As of now, there has been no known motive for the shooting.

Stay tuned to The Pen Hustle…

Former Police Chief Testifies That Shower Posse Stockpiled Weapons & Explosives

duke ellingtonFormer police chief yesterday revealed that in the last decade, the west Kingston-based ‘Shower Posse’, or ‘Presidential Click’ gang – under the direction of Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke – “invested” in a stockpile of firepower that made it a significant threat to the State.

Ellington said police intelligence shows that the gang made significant investments in an arsenal of weapons that included 50-calibre rifles, shoulder-mounted weapons, as well as explosives after a deadly firefight in 2001 between members of the security forces and thugs loyal to Coke in the west Kingston community of Tivoli Gardens.

“This represented a shift away from stand-off single-target weapons to group-target weapons, which was new and significant in terms of how criminals were arming themselves in Jamaica,” said Ellington, who was giving evidence before the West Kingston Commission of Enquiry.

He said that the level of investment, coupled with the high level of organisation displayed by the ‘Presidential Click’, made it a “non-traditional, insurgency level” threat to the authority of the State way beyond the capabilities of any other criminal gang operating across the island.

“None [of them] were on the scale of the Tivoli Gardens gang. The Clans [Clansman] and One Order gangs would be the two in the wings that would pose a significant threat, but they were not as organised as the Tivoli Gardens gang,” Ellington told the three-member panel.

“They didn’t make the kind of social investment in communities as the Tivoli Gardens gang did – buying loyalties and actually appearing to operate like a state within a state,” he underscored.

Jamaica Observer

Former Commissioner Testifies That Illegal Guns Arrived In Jamaica Ahead Of Tivoli Operation To Apprehend Dudus Coke

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Jamaica’s former Commissioner of Police says a stockpile of illegal guns and other weapons landed in Kingston days prior to the Tivoli raids.

Former commissioner of police Owen Ellington testified that the police got intelligence that an aeroplane with illegal weapons landed at the airstrip in Vernamfield, Clarendon, days before the May 24, 2010 operation to apprehend Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke.

He testified that the cargo of guns landed on May 20. Ellington, who was being questioned by Peter Champagnie, said the guns did not belong to the police.

The former top cop said he was not immediately made aware of the report of the illegal shipment. He testified also that it had been reported by the police, who were by the Kingston Harbour, that 15 row boats with heavily armed men were heading toward Portmore in St Catherine.

The former commissioner also testified that gangs affiliated with Coke had planned to create disturbances across the island to stretch the resources of the police.

Edited by Paul Henry