Over 150 of Jamaica’s most dangerous criminals are on the run, defying police efforts to bring them to justice for a variety of crimes, including double murder, murder, conspiracy to murder, shooting with intent, illegal possession of firearm, rape, kidnapping and carnal abuse, police sources said.

The Constabulary Communication Network (CCN), the information arm of the police force, said some of the criminals had been wanted for over five years, while others were convicted but escaped from police lock-ups and prisons.

Lucius Thomas, deputy commissioner of police in charge of the crime portfolio, while unable to confirm the exact number of wanted men on the loose, said the police were pulling out all stops to apprehend wanted men, but they were hampered because citizens were unwilling to provide information. He also said that the police were being restricted by a sophisticated criminal network.

“We pursue every criminal that is wanted out there, but the citizens are not co-operating,” Thomas told The Sunday Observer yesterday. “They advance arguments about police corruption and fear and this is very frustrating every time you hear it. The criminals also have a network. They meet in jail and form alliances.”

Last Tuesday, police arrested Marvin Tucker – a man they say was the most wanted criminal in the parish of Clarendon.

Tucker, the reputed leader of the Marvin Tucker gang, was wanted by police in St Mary, St Elizabeth and the Corporate Area for alleged murder, car theft, shooting and organised crime. Tucker, who the police describe as “vicious”, was held when cops from the Denham Town station on a routine patrol, approached a group of men in the community of Wilton Gardens, also known as “Rema”. The men reportedly ran in different directions.

Tucker was taken out of a Nissan Bluebird motorcar, which, when searched, was found to contain a quantity of ammunition and stolen license plates, police said. He is currently being questioned by detectives in the St Andrew Central division and is set to undergo a series of identification parades next week.

Tucker was wanted for over three years and was the subject of many police operations in St Catherine during that period. Senior Superintendent Reneto Adams told the Sunday Observer that during his stint as head of the now-defunct Crime Management Unit, he and his team went on the hunt for Tucker on more than one occasion.

“I missed him by an inch once when we went to apprehend him in Portmore at a girl’s house. He was fair-skinned and was known to be a dangerous criminal,” Adams said.

While Adams’ description of Tucker may have been accurate at the time, a police source told the Sunday Observer that Tucker was originally of dark complexion but had changed his appearance through the aid of bleaching cream. According to the cop, Tucker was now sporting his original skin colour.

“He was looking like a fair skinned man, but when we hold him, him black as ever. Him is a black man,” the cop said.

But Tucker’s capture seems insignificant in the face of the 150 dangerous criminals who roam the streets.

Police rate Joel Andem as the most wanted man on their list. Andem, who is also called “Lean Head” or “Bald Head”, is accused of murder, shooting, rape and kidnapping and has been on the wanted list for over three years. Known to frequent the Land Lease and Bull Bay areas, Andem is revered by the criminal underworld where he is referred to as the “Big Man”.

Donovan “Bulby” Bennett – reputed leader of the Klansman Gang in Spanish Town – is also among the top 10 wanted criminals. Bennett has been wanted by police for over eight years for murder and extortion.

Other wanted criminals on the police list include:

. Mark Bromley, also called “Shotty Mark” of Tivoli Gardens – murder and escaping custody;

. Randolph Wedderburn, aka “Ralph”, of Pink Lane in Kingston – murder;

. Cecil Adlam, aka “Frostman”, of Windsor Heights, St Catherine – double murder, rape, arson and robbery;

. Milton Johnson, also called “Ratty” of White Wing and Compound in South St Andrew – six murders;

. Johnson’s accomplice, a man who police know only as “Sligo” of Seivwright Gardens – six murders;

. Eric Carlton Pryce, aka “Prowler” of White Lane in Kingston – triple murder in early 2003;

. A man known only as “Lizard” of Waterhouse in Kingston – two homicides;

. Alexander Hutton, also called “Collo”, of Bull Bay, St Andrew – shooting with intent, illegal possession of a firearm and extortion;

. Horace Scott of Moneague, St Ann – murder;

. Anthony Stewart of Duanvale, Trelawny – murder;

. Trevor Ferguson of Brompton, Trelawny – murder;

. Andrew Peart – murder;

. Benjamin Miller, also called “Benjy”, of St Mary – murder; and

. Glenford Spencer, also called “Gee”, of St Catherine – murder;

The police have managed to apprehend some criminals while others died in shoot-outs with cops or were killed by their cronies.

Supporting his boss, Deputy Superintendent Oswald Eyre, crime chief for the South St Andrew division, said citizens were not running to the police with information. “They (the criminals) are able to convince the citizens that they are there to protect, and the police is the enemy. Even when a relative of someone is killed, they never ‘see or hear’ anything. They will say ‘him done get shot already and dead. Me have fi look after myself’.