St. Mary police charge two over Annotto Bay lockup contraband as east Jamaica records overnight tremor

Officers in St. Mary have charged two people who are suspected of trying to slip banned articles into the Annotto Bay police station’s cell area. The accused are 19-year-old Iquillea Richards and 30-year-old Romero Forbes. Personnel reported unusual movement at the compound and, after inmates appeared to tug material back inside the cell, recovered items that included six cigarettes. Both suspects were arrested on suspicion of introducing prohibited articles into the lock-up. A third person got away and enquiries are continuing.

Across eastern Jamaica, many people were roused in the small hours when a light earthquake occurred. The Earthquake Unit logged a magnitude 4.4 event close to 3:20 a.m., with its focus about eleven kilometres beneath the surface and roughly ten kilometres south of Albion in St. Thomas.

The Kingston and St. Andrew Municipal Corporation says a disputed “Rootz Boi” hoarding was dismantled because approval rules were broken, not because of street protest. At a first-quarter meeting with outdoor-advertising firms, Mayor Andrew Swaby pointed to violations such as erecting the board in a zone where signage is barred. The corporation states it polices dimensions, engineering, and siting rather than advertising copy, but still asks brands to show restraint in public messaging.

Detectives in Manchester have named two gunmen killed during a fierce shoot-out last Friday night. They are Dante Carter, 18, linked to Hanbury district in Manchester and Brighton district in St. Elizabeth, and Dave Raymond, 19, of Manningfield district in Manchester. Two firearms were collected at the scene. Superintendent Carey Duncan, who leads the Manchester division, said the weapons seized in that clash brought to three the number of pistols recovered inside a twelve-hour span, after another handgun was found earlier the same day during southern parish operations. He said intelligence work and street operations have been intensified to push major crime down, citing internal counts that homicides in the area have climbed by about seventy per cent while also referring to a hundred-and-ten-per-cent reduction compared with the last published comparison, and voicing confidence that sustained operations and community partnerships will improve the outlook.

Cabinet ministers are preparing action to curb heavy daily use of “Special,” a cocktail of white rum and energy drink that officials associate with drunk riding among young motorcyclists in western Jamaica, often ending in death or serious injury. Health Minister Dr. Christopher Tufton explained that caffeine-rich energy drinks can mask drunkenness, encouraging longer binge sessions, higher blood-alcohol levels, and reckless conduct such as riding under the influence. He outlined a rapid national assessment of alcohol mixed with stimulant drinks and announced “Operation Lighthouse,” a prevention drive across fifty communities island-wide. On a recent visit to Savanna-la-Mar Hospital he observed that about four-fifths of male surgical beds held young helmetless bike riders and that roughly nine in ten were intoxicated, although popular claims that the drink boosts sexual performance are not backed by medical evidence.

In another policy move, government will spend some fifty million dollars on a multi-agency menstrual-health equity pilot targeting about two thousand girls across eight schools chosen where poverty is pronounced, hoping to craft national policy against period poverty. The programme bundles water, sanitation, and hygiene upgrades, HPV vaccination, hygiene teaching, and HIV and STI prevention education.