ST JAMES, Jamaica – Two men have been taken into police custody for suspected breaches of the Health and Agriculture Prevention Act following the seizure of 2,000 pounds of meat, including beef and pork, during a joint operation by members of the Area One Operations and the Agricultural Protection Branch (APB) on Friday afternoon.

Reports are that around 2:30 pm, police, accompanied by personnel from the St James Health Department, conducted a raid at a premises in Lilliput, where the meat was discovered stored in a freezer.

Acting Assistant Commissioner of Police, Oral Pascoe, the head of the APB, said the intelligence driven operation is part of an islandwide crackdown targeting individuals who steal livestock and crops and then resell them.

“Persons would have stolen the animals and butchered them, and without going through a proper slaughterhouse, the meat was not inspected, so there was no stamp. Therefore, the meat is not fit for public consumption – it’s a health risk more than anything else,” the APB head   told reporters.

“Not to mention that stolen meat and livestock actually perpetrate criminal activities. It finances the gangs, and we are here with Area One, along with the team members, to work together to try to cut this out and ensure that farming is profitable for the farmers -and the farmers only,” he added.

He explained that increased monitoring of slaughterhouses has made it easier to detect unstamped meat, leading to the operation where the meat was suspected to have been stolen.

The Jamaica Constabulary Force’s Agricultural Protection Branch (APB) was established on June 13, 2025.  It is a unit within the JCF focused on combating agriculture-related crimes, particularly praedial larceny.

“Our mandate is to protect the agriculture sector.You would have seen where we have strict mandate on enforcing all the regulations, including meats, the Agriculture Produce Act, the Praedial Larceny Prevention Act and the Larceny Act,” Acting ACP Pascoe said.

The senior officer said livestock theft is often underreported due to fear or frustration, but the branch was created to close those gaps by working with local divisions to help farmers recover animals and to arrest and charge those involved in the theft and distribution.

Arrest being made during St James crackdown

“You have suppliers and you have distributors, and this was basically a [suspected] distributor who would have received stolen property and tried to pass it on,” he said.

–          Horace Hines