One of the 59 deportees returned to the island from the UK Tuesday night was yesterday arrested by local cops while others, apparently having no idea where to go, stood outside the Kingston Central Police station two hours after cops finished processing them at 2:00 am.

"We have held a man who is a suspect in a murder that happened in 2002," an officer at the Kingston Central Police told the Observer.

The man's name and age were not released.
The rest of deportees, including 21 women, were said to range between the ages of 19 to late 40's and hailed from the 14 parishes, police said.

They were processed and released.

"Some of them were standing outside the station at 4:00 am. They had nowhere to go and did not know where to go," one cop said.

The 59 deportees are the first batch of Jamaicans who are due to be shipped to Jamaica through the UK's Early Release Scheme.

Yesterday, press and political affairs officer at the British High Commission, Mark Waller refuted reports that the scheme, where prisoners agree to accept reduced sentences in exchange for deportation, had been halted.

"That's not an accurate statement. The Early Release Scheme has not been frozen," Waller told the Observer. "The scheme is still in place".

But Gilbert Scott, permanent secretary in the national security ministry, indicated yesterday that the British authorities had not made any further move to deport more ex-cons.

"The response we got was that no further reservation has been made to remove any deportees at this point. We are looking forward to ongoing discussion with Britain," Scott said.

A technological 'stride' for exercise equipment

Get a flatter belly in just 20 minutes

Great guitar made easy