MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Less than an hour before deputy superintendent (DSP) in charge of operations Colin Johnson addressed the Manchester Municipal Corporation meeting on Thursday, four gunmen struck at a remittance outlet close to the Mandeville town centre making off with over $8 million in a brazen armed robbery.

A police source confirmed that the robbery happened about 9:30 am. Reports are that the gunmen entered the remittance centre and held up the establishment demanding access to cash. The robbery, which was caught on CCTV, showed the robbers moving workers at gunpoint before escaping with over $8 million. It is also reported that a customer who had completed a transaction at the outlet was also robbed of cash.

The Jamaica Observer was told that a high-level probe has been launched into the robbery.

This latest incident follows concerns about crime in Manchester.

Against the backdrop of five murders in less than two weeks in this south-central parish, police say they are continuing to be proactive, having recorded major reductions in six other categories of crimes.

DSP Johnson said that up to April 12, the parish recorded 105 serious crimes compared to 149 for the corresponding period last year.

“One of the major challenges facing the division is the dispute-related crimes. This has also contributed to our crime statistics in the form of shooting, murders and serious wounding. We have taken a proactive approach to some of these activities. Hence, we are seeing some reduction,” DSP Johnson said on Thursday.

“Seventeen murders have been reported in the division when compared to 14 for the same period in 2022. This represents an increase of three or 21 per cent…Within the last 10 days we have recorded five murders. The issues that we are seeing in terms of the murders recorded, six of these murders are gang-related, and eight are interpersonal conflicts. There are three [linked] to domestic violence…We have seen reductions in shooting, rape, aggravated assault, robbery, break-ins and larceny,” added Johnson.

DSP Johnson said the Manchester police will soon have 17 members in a Quick Response Unit to bolster security in towns across the parish.

“We realise that there are some crimes committed within the space at various hours of the day, so we believe that these resources will assist us in cauterising some of these criminal activities,” he said.

He added that the police continue to serve with limited mobility resources.

“One of the challenges we have in terms of the parish is vehicles. Our vehicles are very old. Some are presently in the garage over a long period of time. We continue to have dialogue with the contractors to see how best we can get some of these vehicles up and running,” he said.

“We have one motorcycle for the traffic [division] for Mandeville. We would have made some applications for the increase of motorcycles for the traffic men,” added Johnson.

He said the police continue to seek support from groups in community outreach for crime hot spots.

“From the community, safety and security perspective, we are doing some sensitisation in terms of the interpersonal conflicts how these matters are treated and several of these matters have been referred to our stakeholder, counsellors as also the domestic violence issues,” he said.

“We are also in dialogue with a crew coming out of America. They want to do some intervention within the space in Manchester where we are having problems. These areas are Greenvale, George’s Valley, Heartease, Barnstable, May Day, Comfort, Broadleaf, and Landsettlement,” added Johnson.

DSP Johnson, in responding to a question posed by Councillor Mario Mitchell (People’s National Party, Bellefield Division) regarding gang-related crimes, said there are three active gangs in Manchester.

“… [In] Barnstable one is active, the Greyground and the 100 man Gaza. We have made some inroad in terms of operation and there is some displacement [of the gangs] in terms of that,” said Johnson.