(Jamaica Gleaner) At least one Seventh-day Adventist Church in St Thomas has begun returning more than 600 chairs which went missing from the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St James.
Nigel Coke, communication director of the Jamaica Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, told The Gleaner yesterday that the church would not have taken the chairs if it had been aware that they were stolen.
“Based on our investigation, some 600-plus of the chairs are in churches in St Thomas and discussions are taking place with a view to have them returned by Sunday,” Coke said.
“It is our understanding that the chairs were to be discarded and a member of the church decided to take some for the church,” Coke added.
Up to last night, the police were reportedly retrieving some of the chairs from one of the churches.
Coke said the church member worked as a construction manager at the Convention Centre. The Gleaner understands that a manager of the Urban Development Corporation (UDC), the entity which manages the facility, told employees to throw out the 3,000 chairs and over 70,000 square feet of carpet.
Yesterday, 19 rolls of carpeting – believed to be among missing items from the Montego Bay Convention Centre – were recovered at the western regional offices of the National Solid Waste Management Authority.
The carpet was seized by detectives from the Montego Bay Criminal Investigation Branch, who interviewed several employees of the government agency.
The chairs and carpet were imported with assistance from the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) for use at the Caribbean Marketplace trade show, held at the facility in January. They were being stored at the convention centre for use at another trade show after which they were to be re-exported.
The JHTA reportedly found out about the missing items in August, when the owner requested they be returned. The body also stated that the incident will not affect this weekend’s staging of the Jamaica Product Exchange at the said facility.
The Gleaner understands that some charities in western Jamaica were recipients of some of the chairs.
