Mandeville, Manchester – People’s National Party(PNP) general secretary and outgoing member of parliament for South West St Elizabeth, Donald Buchanan, has alleged that three of four fishermen who were recently convicted of bringing guns into the country were “known Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) activists”.

Buchanan made the allegation at the formal introduction of Peter Bunting as the new PNP candidate in Central Manchester, at the Manchester High School on Tuesday night.

He was responding to what he described as “wild allegations” by the opposition candidate for SW St Elizabeth Dr Christopher Tufton, about an alleged plot to trigger political tension and violence in the normally peaceful constituency.

Speaking at a JLP divisional conference in Mountainside, SW St Elizabeth last Sunday, Tufton, an opposition senator, said he had found reason to report to the police, suspicions that there was a plot in the making to plant guns or drugs at either his office or his home in Black River.

And while insisting that he was not “casting stones” or making judgments, Tufton drew attention to the recent incursion into St Elizabeth of three gunmen from “South West St Andrew, the prime minister’s constituency”. The three men who hijacked a car were later cornered and killed by police in Clarendon.

In moving to ‘repudiate’ any suggestion that his party was involved in ‘sinister plots’, Buchanan said he found it strange that while Tufton had spoken ‘expansively’ about “alleged plots against him and alleged gunmen from SW St Andrew”, there was “not a whisper, not a word” about the “criminal bringing of AK47 guns” into South-West St Elizabeth by “known JLP activists”.

According to Buchanan, while he could not speak for one man who was from Clarendon, “I do know that three of the four convicted men were all activists of the JLP.”

“Why is the silence of Senator Christopher Tufton so deafening on this matter?” he asked.

Contacted for a response, Tufton said he was unaware of any connection between his party and the convicted men.

“He (Buchanan) seems to have more information than me … I don’t know where he gets his information from,” said Tufton. He reaffirmed support for the police in the fight against criminals.

Fishermen Arden Ebanks, Carlington Parchment, Bryan Parchment and Alvin Ashby of South St Elizabeth and South Clarendon addresses were recently sentenced to 15 years imprisonment each for their part in transporting 10 guns, including eight AK 47s by boat to Great Bay in the Treasure Beach area of SW St Elizabeth on December 20.