(Trinidad Express) FIVE of the 13 people killed over the emancipation weekend were shot dead as a result of a $2.67 million marijuana deal that may have gone sour, police have said.
The five are Gregory “Jamdown” Charles, 36, of Pipiol Road, Upper Santa Cruz and Sherwin “Dan” Cole, 37 of Cantaro Village Upper Santa Cruz, who were fatally shot in Santa Cruz around 12 a.m. on Friday; Michael Fox, 21, and his cousin Jamell “Blacka” Fox, 24, and Shaquille Bishop, 21 who were fatally shot inside a house at Desperlie Crescent in Laventille approximately 24 hours later.
All five were killed with a high powered gun, police said.
The Fox cousins along with Charles and Cole were all from Santa Cruz, however the older Fox had been living in the Desperlie Crescent area close to his girlfriend Keisha Hamit.
Speaking with the Express yesterday at the Forensic Science Centre in St James, Hamit said her boyfriend for the past seven years was a very helpful and loving man who loved to dance. Hamit said she and Fox were planning to have children and build their home together and he did not deserve to die the way he did.
Fox and his friends were said to be killed by people they knew since there was no sign of forced entry into the house where they were found, police said. They have also denied reports that the men were killed by police officers who are working with gangsters.
The link between the five deaths and drugs was cemented by the finding of some 170 kilogrammes of high grade marijuana on Sunday night.
The “imported” drugs valued at $2.67 million from Jamaica and St Vincent were found by officers of the North Eastern Division Task Force (NEDTF) in some bushes at Upper Pipiol Road, Santa Cruz.
Two guns, an MP 40 and a .38 revolver along with 10 rounds of ammunition, were also discovered.
Police believed that the five men were once partners and both Cole and Charles were betrayed by the two Foxs and Bishop who in turn were themselves betrayed.
Speaking with the Express at the NEDTF at the Morvant Police Station yesterday, Insp Roger Alexander, speaking in his capacity of vice-president of the Police Social and Welfare Association, said the borders of the country needed to be better protected.
Alexander said with the borders protected, the drugs and guns would not enter and the killings in the country would be less gruesome and less rampant.