Two members of Operation Kingfish examine a crater opened by explosives Wednesday in a bombing operation at an illegal airstrip in Greenwood, St James. (Photo: Horace Hines)

WESTERN BUREAU - Operation Kingfish, the counter narcotics task force, on Wednesday bombed an illegal airstrip in Greenwood, St James, with the help of the army.

The engineering regiment of the Jamaica Defence Force set the explosives that blasted craters in the 600-metre airstrip, suspected to be a pick-up and drop-off point for drugs.

According to police information officer Sergeant Steve Brown, the St James airstrip had been destroyed before, 15 years ago.

He said the Greenwood strip was the first of several targeted in the bombing operation.

These areas are to be monitored by the police to ensure that, once they have been taken out of commission, the strips would not be reconstructed, Brown said.

"This is the first of many such airstrips that is being targeted by Operation Kingfish. We are going to monitor them because this one was destroyed about 15 years ago and the guys came back and did some work on it," said the police spokesman.

"We are going to keep a close tab on them to ensure that having done this then they will not be back."

Wednesday's bombing was done with the permission of the owner of the land, said to be a prominent Montego Bay businessman.

Brown said that intelligence that Operation Kingfish has gathered, suggests that the airstrip was recently used.

"Frankly speaking, the road leading off the main to this airstrip is a dead end, and you can see where a plane had landed on it very, very recently."

The operation was somewhat delayed by heavy afternoon showers in the area but the operation proceeded nonetheless.

"We are doing a thorough job on it," said Brown.

hinesh@jamaicaobserver.com

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