Three men were yesterday arrested in connection with the theft in July of 500 truckloads of sand from a Trelawny beach after cops from the Organised Crime Investigative Division (OCID) raided premises in the Corporate Area, Trelawny and Negril.

The identities of the men were not released by the police who, in a release yesterday, said they were being processed and interviewed by investigators.

According to the police, two of the men were held in Kingston while the other man was picked up in Trelawny.
The police raided the Corporate Area head office and a Trelawny branch of Bedrock Building and Aggregates early yesterday. Another raid was reportedly carried out in the resort town of Negril in Westmoreland.

Yesterday, outgoing deputy commissioner of police in charge of the crime portfolio, Mark Shields, who is heading the investigation into the disappearance of the white sand, was tight-lipped when contacted by the Observer.

"There are ongoing operations at various locations across the island and a number of persons have been arrested and that's all I am prepared to say at this time," Shields said.

Head of the OCID, Superintendent Fitz Bailey, was equally mum when questioned.
"You will have to wait on the official release to get any information about the operation," Bailey said.

The sand was stolen in July from a prime 64-acre property at Coral Spring near Duncans in Trelawny, forcing the developers, Felicitas Limited, to call off a proposed $8-billion development, for which the beach would be the centrepiece.

Felicitas is jointly owned by 15 of Jamaica's most successful entrepreneurs who shared a common dream of developing 36 six-star, luxury villas with spa, restaurant, amphitheatre and marina in phase one, that would serve as a catalyst for undeveloped Trelawny.

Last month, Felicitas filed a US$8-million lawsuit against three hotels - Riu Jamaicotel, Fiesta Jamaica Ltd and Palmyra Resort and Spa - claiming that the hotels' servants or agents unlawfully and without consent removed a large quantity of sand from the Coral Springs property and delivered it to properties owned by Fiesta, Riu and Palmyra.
Felicitas also named Bedrock Building and Aggregates Limited as the fourth defendant in the claim.

Yesterday, several police bosses in western Jamaica said they had no knowledge of the operations in their parishes in connection with the sand theft.

Deputy Superintendent Cyril Brissett, who is in charge at the Negril Police Station, said he had not heard anything about any operation in the parish. "That's news to me," he said in response to queries at his office. "I have no knowledge of that."

Superintendent in charge of the Trelawny Division, Linnette Williams-Martin, also expressed total ignorance of any arrests being made in her parish. "I don't know," she responded. "I am hearing this for the first time."

Speculation that arrests were imminent in the case reached fever pitch in the second city last week following the publication of a report which suggested that several 'big men', including policemen and politicians, had been implicated.

Keril Wright also contributed to this story

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