NINJA Man, the controversial dancehall DJ who has served time for illegal possession of a firearm and was once charged for murder, dramatically, handed over a loaded gun to renowned tough cop Reneto Adams on Thursday night.

While performing on stage at Sting reggae concert at the Jamworld entertainment complex in Portmore, St Catherine Ninja Man, whose real name is Desmond Ballentine, called Adams on stage in a haranguing spiel and handed over the Glock semi-automatic pistol with four bullets in its magazine.

Adams, himself a controversial policeman who heads the often-criticised Crime Management Unit (CMU), commented yesterday that he was at first reluctant to join Ninja Man on stage but went after the entertainer continually called on him to do so.

“I admit that I was quite surprised,” Adams told the Observer. “I took the gun and examined it carefully in order to confirm that it was not an imitation firearm. I checked to see whether it was loaded and found four live rounds in the magazine.”

The incident took place before an estimated 30,000 people who jammed the show, which has in the past had outbreaks of violence and spouting of profanities by performers. The theme of this year’s show was Bring back the Love.

Ninja Man, who made a name for himself in the often harsh world of Jamaica’s dancehall entertainment by spouting lyrics supporting gun violence, has had several run-ins with the law.

Only in July of this year he was freed of the murder of taxi driver Anthony White who lived on Waltham Park Road in Kingston and in 1999 he was sentence to a year in jail for the illegal possession of a gun. He has also been several times cited by the police for his performances at concerts littered with expletives.

Thursday night the DJ initially appeared to be headed for a typical Ninja Man performance in celebration of the gun.

“Me have me gun pon me,” he bragged at one point. No one appeared to take him seriously.

Then he called Adams on stage and repeated the calls until the controversial policeman acceded.

Ninja Man told Adams: “We don’t like you and you don’t like we. Me a di original gold teeth, front teeth gunman DJ and you a di original gunman police. I giving you this gun because gunman fi stop shoot people and you fe stop shoot ghetto boy. All de youth whey a carry gun you fe tek dem and train dem an’ tun dem ina police.”

Adams responded: “Ninja, I thank you for this opportunity and I appeal to all those out there who have guns to bring them in … you will not be charged … I say again, you will not be charged.”

In the aftermath of the hand-over Adams joined Ninja Man in crooning the spiritual It will soon be done.

Adams did not arrest Ninja Man for the apparently illegal gun and yesterday explained to the Observer that he had acted in the context of policy of an amnesty for persons who turned in guns to the police. “The mandate guiding us is that anyone who voluntarily hands over an illegal gun to the police will not be charged with a breach of the Firearms Act,” Adams said.

However, the CMU head said the gun was being thoroughly examined by the police forensic and ballistic laboratories and the National Firearms and Drug Intelligence Centre (NFDIC) to determine the origin of the weapon and whether it was used in any criminal acts here.

Since January this year the police have seized 460 illegal firearms. Of the 1,038 murders for the year reported by the police up to yesterday, 701, or 67.5 per cent of them were committed with guns.

In referring to the Jamworld incident Adams emphasised that the police could not reap any successes in the fight against illegal guns unless there was public trust and confidence in police confidentiality.

“Our presence at Jamworld Thursday night was part and parcel of this new level of community policing,” he said. That is why after Mr Ballentine handed me the firearm I commended his action after which I turned to the large crowd of patrons in the park and recommended that anyone who finds himself in a similar situation should make the same response.”