KINGSTON, Jamaica — Nine people were arrested during a joint operation led by members of the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA) and the Financial Investigation Division (FID) Thursday morning.

Eight of those in custody — six men and two women — were arrested in Montego Bay, St James while one woman was taken into custody in Hanover. 

The operations, which were carried out as part of an ongoing investigation into lottery scamming activities and money laundering, began about 4:30 Thursday morning.

The activities took investigators to the communities of Norwood Gardens, Paradise and John’s Hall, all in St James and Welcome District in Hanover.

The nine people in custody are being questioned in the presence of their lawyers, and it is expected that formal charges will be laid against them at a later date.

Following the operation, the MOCA team sought to remind the public that it is a criminal offence to assist people to regularise illicitly gained wealth. 

“Do not be used,” Inspector Dahlia Garrick, communications officer for MOCA, warned. “Do not let them [criminals] use you to facilitate or conduct transactions on their behalf, as you will find yourself on the wrong side of the law.”