Plot to kill retired cops uncovered

BY KARYL WALKER

Editor — Crime/Court Desk

walkerk@jamaicaobserver.com

Following the brutal murders of retired cops Deputy Superintendent Roy Boyd and Senior Superintendent Anthony Hewitt, police investigators have learnt of a plot hatched by the criminal underworld to target and kill retired cops.

Boyd was gunned down on February 24 after he returned to his Queensborough, St Andrew home and gunmen distracted him by asking if he knew of any houses in the community being available for rent. He was shot three times in the head and died on the spot.

His killers stole his licensed firearm before escaping.

Hewitt was shot dead when he went to visit a relative at Donmair Court Apartments in St Andrew on September 16 last year. He was caught off guard after he left his licensed firearm in his car. Similar to Boyd, his killers engaged him in conversation before cutting him down. His gun was not stolen.

Last week, a Jamaica Observer source revealed that retired cops have been alerted by the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) of the plot and increased security has been deployed in an effort to protect them.

Retired Senior Superintendent Reneto Adams has confirmed that he was alerted that a threat has been issued against his life.

Adams, who grabbed headlines with his flamboyant, no-nonsense style of policing, said he has taken extra precautions to ward off any attempt to take him out.

“It is a fact. I know that criminals have been plotting to kill me. I learnt of the plot even before I was contacted by the police high command. I have used my own resources to bolster my security. I am not perturbed, but I am not taking any chances. In my time I have been threatened 61 times,” Adams said.

Adams retired after serving in the constabulary force for 41 years.

“I cannot afford to be careless,” Adams said. “I know that if a man kills me it will be, for him, a prized scalp. I know they want to kill me, but I am not afraid.”

Police sources say a cellular phone call was intercepted and gangsters from Montego Bay and August Town were heard hatching the plot to end Adams’ life.

Another retired superintendent, who worked in St Catherine, said he, too, had been advised of the plot.

“I have been contacted by the NIB. They asked me where and where me go, and for real, they have been patrolling my area more often. I will shoot to kill, and I am waiting for any man to come and try,” he said.

However, not all retired cops feel it is necessary to walk with a gun.

“I know of the plot to kill retired cops. But after handling guns for most of my life I don’t want to handle any more weapons,” one former policeman, who asked not to be named, told the Sunday Observer. “When you have a gun… things you used to do, you don’t do them anymore. Places we used to go, we don’t go anymore.”

ADAMS… I know they want to kill me, but I am not afraid

BOYD… gunned down on February 24