MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Less than a week after police here vowed to ramp up operations targeting praedial larceny, a 39-year-old woman and a 43-year-old man from the Corporate Area were held in Newport with a butchered cow, believed to be stolen.

Operations officer for Manchester Deputy Superintendent Collin Johnson said they were among three people in a Toyota Probox motor car when the vehicle was intercepted about 3:10 am Thursday.

“One man ran from the car, leaving a female and a male in the car with a cow which was cut into four pieces. The two persons [held] are from the Kingston 13 area. The female has a Comfort Hall address in Walderston [Manchester] as also a Waltham Park, Kingston 13, address. There is a male from a Kingston 13 area,” Johnson said during his report to the Manchester Municipal Corporation on Thursday.

The third suspect who escaped is being pursued, with the police in possession of his information.

“The driver’s licence which fell from the person who ran from the vehicle [indicates this man] is also from Kingston 13. The motor car is owned by someone from Kingston 8,” said Johnson.

This latest incident follows an operation just over one week ago by the Manchester police, targeting people involved in praedial larceny.

“We conducted a major operation in the parish of Manchester around slaughterhouses, restaurants, supermarkets and other meat establishments. We did a sensitisation with them in the company of our public health inspectors and also representatives from the Veterinary Services Division,” said Johnson.

“What we are actually doing is strict monitoring of our slaughterhouse… no animals should be butchered on the weekends or in the nights. We believe that some of the stolen meat is then mixed with the legal meat. We are trying to curtail that as best as possible,” Johnson added as he noted that seven people have been charged with praedial larceny offences in Manchester since January.

He said criminals from outside the parish continue to be of concern to the police.

“What we have observed, since the start of this year, there are migrant criminals in the parish of Manchester. These two people held [on Thursday] and three held earlier this year bring the number to five. Two [men] were picked up on the Winston Jones Highway [and] were sent to Hanover where they were charged for some sexual offences.

“There was another person picked up in a road policing [operation] and sent to Trelawny. There are migrant criminals coming into Manchester and so we pay particular attention to some areas that we believe they may be using coming into the parish,” he said.

Johnson told his audience that the police are monitoring south coast areas including Alligator Pond.

“With the unrest in Haiti we are on heightened alert as to our seaports so we are placing particular attention to the south Manchester, Alligator Pond, area. We have also sensitised our citizens in that regard,” he said.