KINGSTON, Jamaica — Minister of National Security, Dr Horace Chang, has indicated that a military operation is needed to deal with the level of criminality in sections of Clarendon.

His statement came after Member of Parliament for Clarendon Central, Mike Henry, called for a zone of special operations (ZOSO) or state of emergency (SOE) to be declared in sections of the parish where two policemen were shot and injured during a confrontation with armed robbers at a supermarket on Sunday.

Speaking yesterday with RJR News, Chang said: “ZOSO is a community based operation. This is a criminal gang, heavily armed, which requires a response that is much different from a ZOSO. You have to chase them, hunt them down, find them and hopefully apprehend them. But if they respond, then the police will be prepared to do what they have to do. This is not a ZOSO operation. This is a military operation”.

“The country needs to appreciate the severity of what the police face. They (criminals) are armed with assault rifles and appear that certain M-16 they were using have what they call bomb stop magazines which carry 100 rounds.

“That is not the kind of thing a ZOSO deals with, this requires armed response but guided by intelligence and investigation that can make sure we find the right criminals,” he continued.

According to the police, the robbers involved in the gun attack on the police officers used the operator of the supermarket as a shield and made their escape in three motor vehicles, one of which was stolen from the scene.

It is further reported that two of the vehicles were intercepted and the gunmen fled, leaving behind one Remington shotgun, three M-16 magazines, one 9mm magazine and $496,000.

However, the police said they escaped with more than $3 million and two iPhone smartphones which together are valued more than $200,000.

Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police Major General Antony Anderson has defended the force’s handling of the robbery.

“I hear the concerns of citizens regarding the police’s weaponry and their response to this incident. The first officers on scene were regular beat patrol officers, and the preservation of the lives of the hostages – who were used as human shields by the gunmen – was of top priority. These first responders were subsequently supported by other police, including one who used his personal vehicle to block the suspects, and their collective response caused the gunmen to abandon two vehicles, leading to the release of a hostage and the recovery of some of the stolen money,” he said.