MONTEGO BAY, St James — Cattle thieves running rampant in Trelawny have been finding a market for their contraband in this western city, according to head of the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s (JCF) Agricultural Protection Branch (APB) for Area One, Inspector Orville Bushay.

“One of the things that we would have noticed is that a lot of cattle stealing goes on in Trelawny… We actually learned that a lot of it is destined for Montego Bay,” he told Thursday’s monthly council meeting of the St James Municipal Corporation.

The APB was launched by the JCF in June in a bid to tackle the scourge of praedial larceny.

“We launched the Friday and, by the Tuesday, we held three men travelling in a white Toyota Axio heading into St James with a goat,” Bushay said.

The men, who were held on June 17, were all from St James.

“We realised that it is a ring because we have several reports of this white Axio stealing goats in the Trelawny area, [and] other areas too,” Bushay stated.

Citing data that the country loses an estimated $14 billion each year to praedial larceny, he said the Area One APB is determined to make a difference.

“Our mandate is, as far as possible, to eradicate praedial larceny and related offences in our area. We know it’s an uphill task but we are equally up to the task,” Bushay declared.

Part of that push, he explained, is education.

“What we are doing now is a sensitisation campaign to sensitise farmers, whether it’s farmers of cattle or agricultural produce,” said Bushay.

“We realise that there is not a lot of compliance as it concerns some of the rules with persons transporting animals without being tagged. A lot of persons are transporting agricultural produce without a JAS (Jamaica Agricultural Society) receipt,” he added.

He said, so far, the APB has arrested two individuals who were transporting cattle without tags while six people were arrested for transporting agricultural produce without receipts.

According to Bushay, while the arrests send a message to people intent on breaking the law his team has also taken its education campaign to Charles Gordon Market in St James. The success of the war on praedial thieves hinges on buy-in from farmers.

“If we are not able to trace the animals or produce back to the owner or the grower, then that might be difficult,” Bushay explained.

“All the animals that are to be transported, especially cattle, they should have a tag and a passport. That is how we’ll be able to trace the animals back to the owner,” he advised.

He stressed that the team is still in the early phase of development, with the headquarters now housed inside Falmouth Police Station — the only place where space was available.

Bushay said there are improvements to come, with more locations to support the work they are doing.

“We intend to build out with a base in Troy, a sub-base at Ramble, and another base in Westmoreland,” he stated.