St James cyberbullying network draws police arrests as Jamaica faces rising MDMA seizures

A coordinated online harassment campaign has spread across several high schools in St James, with police holding three students for questioning amid allegations that fabricated social media posts are targeting pupils and their relatives.

Investigators say the most recent episode involved posts falsely claiming that a teenage girl was sexually abused by her father. The family maintains the accusations are entirely untrue. Officers are treating the activity as part of an organised network rather than isolated bullying.

One mother told reporters that harassers create new pages each month bearing her daughter's name and photographs. She said the campaign intensified around Father's Day, when a page linked the girl with her father and repeated molestation claims using images taken from her church group. She added that she has closed her business daily to escort her daughter to and from school, and waited outside an examination centre while the child sat CSEC exams out of fear for her safety.

The principal of Mount Alvernia High School, among the institutions affected, said, "Our approach to bullying is just not enough. We don't have the resources to fight what is happening." Police were alerted to the network last year and mediation briefly eased attacks before they resumed over the Father's Day weekend.

Priscilla DuHaney, spokesperson for Hear the Children's Cry, said children and parents remain afraid because abuse can follow pupils beyond the school gate through phones and laptops. She urged the Ministry of Education to strengthen cyberbullying policies, work with the Ministry of National Security under the Cybercrimes Act, and treat the issue as a sustained national priority, especially with summer approaching.

Separately, law-enforcement officials warned that synthetic party drugs are reaching younger Jamaicans. Superintendent Petre Rowe, director of the Firearms and Narcotics Investigation Division, said authorities have seized thousands of MDMA tablets this year through ports, post, and courier shipments, while more than 11,000 pounds of cocaine valued at roughly $3 billion has also been intercepted. Rowe cautioned that tablets sold as Molly may contain far more dangerous substances, including fentanyl.

Abroad, Venezuelan authorities reported at least 188 deaths after magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes struck within 39 seconds near coastal towns west of Caracas on Wednesday evening. Officials listed 1,520 injured and 157 missing as rescue teams searched rubble following 138 aftershocks. Writer Victor Drak Croatto, speaking from Caracas, described a heavy reliance on volunteers and criticised what he called a limited official response.