Drug threat
Some ministers get additional security |
Observer Reporter
Tuesday, June 29, 2004
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| ASSAMBA. among first persons to get more security |
THE government announced yesterday that a number of parliamentarians and other professionals have been warned by the police that they may be under death threat from drug 'dons'.
There were immediate rumours tourism minister and South West St Ann representative Aloun Assamba was among the first persons around whom security has been stepped up, but information minister Burchell Whiteman stopped just short of confirming this.
"That may well be so. I won't go any further than that," he said.
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| PHILLIPS. chairs meeting of public order cabinet sub-committee next week |
Whiteman declined to name names.
Assamba's constituency, in the hilly regions of northern Jamaica, is an area believed to be one where several top drug dealers live. In one St Ann community recently, residents demonstrated when the police arrested alleged drug kingpin, Norris "Dedo" Nembhard.
The complaint was that Nembhard, who runs a haulage and heavy equipment business, provided jobs in the community and that these would dry up with his arrest.
Whiteman had earlier told reporters that senior police officers had briefed the Cabinet about the dangers in the face of the recent string of arrests of alleged top-level drug dealers, most of whom the Americans want to have extradited to stand trial in the United States.
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| WHITEMAN. some officials may need special protection |
According to Whiteman, the senior cops told ministers that there was a pattern internationally of persons being targeted in circumstances such as has developed in Jamaica with perceived drug barons under pressure.
"We must not assume that that pattern will automatically escape us," Whiteman said.
Patterson's invitation to senior police officers to brief the Cabinet on security issues followed his warning Sunday night, in an address to the country, that more arrests were in the offing and his appeal to Jamaicans not to allow criminals seeking diversion to tempt them into "unlawful activities or (to) become pawns of those who want to divert the attention of the security forces from their criminal intention".
Whiteman admitted that some ministers have already been granted added security, but when pressed on the rumours surrounding Assamba, said: " That may well be so. I won't go any further than that. I am aware of what you are referring to."
But Whiteman made clear that any threat was against more than a single individual or members of the Cabinet.
"The police are very mindful that particular individuals, because of the office they hold or because of their particular area of operation, need a higher level of protection," he said.
Additionally, he said, in some communities where the alleged drug dealers are being targeted, some officials may need special protection.
"They (the police) are working on that without telling the world what is going on," he said. "But, you are right, there are areas where specific provisions are being made."
The threat extended to other elected public officials as well as lawyers, police officers and persons involved in the legal system, but he refused to say how wide the net the was.
"I can't say how wide it is, but they (the police) know," Whiteman said.
He added that there was also a warning about activities calculated to distract the police from criminal activities occurring in various parts of the island. But, he added that the police were confident of their ability to deal with the matter and the support of the society.
Whiteman said that the public order cabinet sub-committee, which is chaired by the Minister of National Security Dr Peter Phillips, will meet next Monday to deal with various issues of public order, including the behaviour of taxi drivers and schoolchildren, which have been brought before the cabinet.
However, he pointed out that the scheduling of the meeting was purely coincidental and was not triggered by yesterday's meeting with the police but the absence of a cabinet meeting next week.
He said that the committee would further examine strategies for improving public order. This would include zero tolerance in dealing with the drug dealers, ensuring good order and a sense of discipline and preserving the confidence of the people in the government's ability to manage and reduce disruptions of normal life as a cover for illegal activity.
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