WATER WORKS, Westmoreland

Acting deputy superintendent of police in charge of crime in the Westmoreland Police Division, Paul Simms is asking anyone with information on the whereabouts or identity of four armed men who attempted to hijack a cigarette vendor in this community on Tuesday to speak up.

“Call me at 918-0214, or the Savanna-la-Mar CIB office at 955-2758,” he told the Observer West.

The senior policeman’s plea follows efforts by the four armed men to abduct the vendor at about 11:45 am on Tuesday.

The efforts, which were thwarted by a group of militant residents, facilitated the recovery by the police of a Toyota Corolla XE Saloon, with registration number 5593DS, in which the armed thugs were travelling.

The motor car was reportedly stolen from its driver, who was abducted by the four men along Deanery Road in Kingston on Monday afternoon, and later released in Santa Cruz, St Elizabeth.

Yesterday’s incident was the second in recent times in which men have conducted a robbery in Kingston, moved to St Elizabeth, then travelled on to Westmoreland.

“That pattern would indicate that there is a local network with a Kingston link. However, we are working with our counterparts in Kingston and St Elizabeth to identify the men involved,” said DSP Simms.

“We are encouraging citizens to be vigilant and alert and to report all suspicious activities and strange persons seen in communities. What we have seen is that a lot of these criminals have relatives in rural area so when they are in trouble they move to rural areas.”

The cigarette salesman said that shortly after completing a sale at a grocery shop in the Water Works community, he observed a motor car travelling slowly along the roadway in front of him.

Two men alighted from the car, held him at gunpoint and forced him aboard the motor vehicle.

A struggle reportedly ensued between the vendor and his abductors. He explained that the driver of the motor car, in his attempt to assist his cronies to constrain him, lost control of the vehicle, which ran off the road.

The armed men who alighted from the car were in the process of pushing it back to the main thoroughfare when residents, some armed with machetes, recognised the cigarette vendor and rallied to his support.

The four released a volley of shots before escaping into nearby bushes.