THE police claimed yesterday to have identified the person who, in November, shipped 20 high-powered guns (shown here) to Jamaica intended for Spanish Town’s Clansman gang, and said they have asked the Americans to help them track down and apprehend the criminal.

“We have identified the exporter of these illegal guns,” said Sergeant Steve Brown, spokesman for the police drug and gang-busting task force, Operation Kingfish. “He is a Jamaican and a high-ranking member of the Clansman gang who is living in the United States, and we have requested our law enforcement colleagues there to assist us in nabbing him.”

Brown, however, did not give a name or say in which US state the suspect lives.

Days after police killed Clansman leader Donovan “Bulbie” Bennett last October, the police found documents at his Rock River, Clarendon residence that led them to the shipment at Kingston Wharves that included AK 47 and M16 rifles.The guns were in a hidden compartment of wooden boxes.

Police said the guns were consigned to a Spanish Town address. The person who had apparently gone to clear the shipment the same day the police turned up fled when information circulated that the police were on the wharf.

That man, whose name has been withheld, is being sought by the police.

– whytetk@jamaicaobserver.com