THE May Pen police insisted yesterday that Saturday’s murder of 70 year-old businessman Maurice Azan was robbery, and not because of his failure to support the town’s extortion racket.

“The motive is robbery. They took an undetermined sum of money before they left,” Detective Inspector Davis of the May Pen Criminal Investigation Bureau said.

Meanwhile, the police reported yesterday that Azan’s stepson, Lloyd Phang, 50, who was also shot in the robbery, died Sunday night in hospital.

The police reported that a group of gunmen entered Azan’s supermarket on Saturday evening and shot the two men before escaping with a sum of money. Azan was pronounced dead at hospital, while Phang, who was admitted to the May Pen Hospital, was transferred to a hospital in Kingston where he died.

Last year, business persons in the Clarendon capital complained of a growing extortion racket which was allegedly being run by a gang affiliated to the Spanish Town-based One Order gang. Letters, similar to the one reportedly crushed by Azan, were circulated to businesses in the area demanding that they pay extortion or suffer defacement to their property of disruption of business.

Yesterday, some business persons denied that they were paying extortion but requested that their businesses not be identified.

“No we are not paying extortion and I wish you don’t identify me or this business,” one manager said.

According to Davis, who was assigned to crack down on extortionists in May Pen, the activity has been stamped out of the town since last year.

“We have no indication that extortion contributed to his death as we do not have an extortion problem in May Pen right now,” Davis said.

Police say the May Pen-based arm of the One Order gang was being run by Nigel Palmer, also known as “Peck”, who was known to operate between Farm Pen Road in May Pen and March Pen Road in Spanish Town.

“Peck” is wanted by the police in both divisions for murder, shooting with intent and illegal possession of a firearm.

But yesterday, a police source said they suspected that “Peck” had fled the island. “We don’t know for sure but our information is that he is not here in Jamaica,” a cop said.