POLICE and soldiers were this morning monitoring the entrance leading into the Riverton City landfill where residents started day four of protests against having missed out on spoils from the scrap metal trade.

The residents, who had been key participants in the trade, have threatened to start blocking the roadways until Industry, Investment and Commerce Minister Christopher Tufton meets with them.

The residents said they had been unable to survive, but were still holding strain after the ministry’s ban on the trade earlier this year, only to find out that others had continued to profit, despite the ban.

The scrap metal trade was halted after thieves stole millions of dollars worth of metal from several companies, almost crippling operations. Only a select few companies were allowed to export.

But last week the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce halted all exports of scrap metal from Jamaica, as it admitted that there had been breaches of the Cabinet order, and that investigations had revealed that at least eight companies were illegally exporting the material.

Customs admitted that they had allowed containers of scrap to be exported without the relevant permits.

The Office of the Contractor General has since started investigating this claim.

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