ST CATHERINE, Jamaica — Four people were arrested and charged with breaching the Public Health Act (1985) yesterday after they were found in a building on Port Henderson Road in Portmore which had been ordered closed by the Ministry of Health.

According to OBSERVER ONLINE sources, between 6:40 pm and 7:20 pm, a police team carried out a snap raid at premises known as Iron Gate in the area popularly known as ‘Back Road’.

During the operation, 14 rooms were searched and a number of people seen on the premises taken into custody. An offensive weapon and about five ounces of ganja were seized by the police during the operation.

Six of the men, and a woman, were detained and transported to the Greater Portmore Police Station, where four of them were charged.

According to the police, the people who were charged had been warned on more than one occasion in the recent past, not to enter the premises based on the order from the Ministry of Health.

They are to appear in the St Catherine Parish Court during the second week of May.

The police have also issued a warning to Jamaicans to obey the orders of the Ministry of Health in relation to any building that has been ordered closed.

According to the cops, “any person who destroys, defaces, removes or incites to remove a Ministry of Health notice, or enters a premises when it is ordered closed by the Ministry of Health, commits a breach under the Public Health Act of 1985”.

Arthur Hall