(Jamaica Observer) MONTEGO BAY, St James — Police yesterday reported a major achievement in their crackdown on the lucrative lottery scam, saying that one of the masterminds was among 28 persons arrested during raids in St James and Hanover.
According to Superintendent Leon Clunis, head of the task force set up to dismantle the lottery scam, the mastermind, a well-known political activist, was held in the upscale Coral Gardens community in St James.
“It was a very successful operation,” Superintendent Clunis said, adding that a Lexus motor car belonging to the alleged mastermind was among 11 vehicles seized during yesterday’s operations.
Clunis also said that the man’s brother was held during a similar raid in Rose Heights in St James, and that he was found with the driver’s licence of a retired policeman.
“What we find very interesting, over in Rose Heights where the alleged mastermind’s brother was picked up he was found with a driver’s licence with an address. So we went to the address and there we found a retired policeman,” Superintendent Clunis said.
Clunis also reported that an illegal electricity connection was found at the Coral Gardens house and the police “called in the Jamaica Public Service and they were able to do their checks”.
He told journalists that the operations started at about 5:30 yesterday morning and saw the lottery scam task force, working in tandem with other police units, carrying out raids in several communities in St James and Hanover.
The St James communities raided were Rose Heights, Granville, Bogue Village, and Coral Gardens, while Hopewell in Hanover was targeted.
During the operation in Hopewell, a woman and a man were taken into custody and two motor vehicles seized.
“At one of the premises, which is a major complex, we found a lady with lead sheets with other stuff, including vegetable matter, which she disowned. These things were found in her room but she disowned them,” Superintendent Clunis told journalists.
“Notwithstanding, we took her into custody and seized her vehicle,” Clunis said.
He added that the woman has not been working for several years and the police are now investigating other activities which they suspect she was involved in. “She will be charged for the vegetable matter and unlawful possession of property,” he added.
Some of the persons taken into custody leave a house in Coral Gardens, St James during yesterday’s operation by members of the lottery scam task force.
