Tax office employee among six held in car-stealing racket
May 18, 2006
THE police last week recovered 13 stolen motor cars and arrested six people, in a major stroke of luck that led the Eastern Kingston police to Santa Cruz, St Elizabeth, where they smashed a sophisticated car-stealing ring.
According to the police, a team of policemen were gathering intelligence in Vineyard Town, Kingston when their attention was drawn to two men working on two Toyota Corolla motor cars on Deanery Road.
On investigation, it was discovered that they were erasing the chassis numbers from the cars, the police said. The two cars were subsequently seized and the two men taken into custody.
"Little did we know that we had stumbled upon a major car-stealing ring. This is just being at a place at the right time," said Superintendent Assan Thompson.
"Sometimes even the best of us need a little luck to go with hard work," he added.
The police superintendent said further investigations led the Eastern Kingston police to Santa Cruz in St Elizabeth, where the police seized two cars and arrested a man. His wife was also taken into custody, but was released without charge.
An employee of the Santa Cruz tax collectorate, who the police said was the inside man at the tax office, was later arrested. "Without him the scam would be dysfunctional, he was a very important cog in the wheel," said Thompson.
Another suspect was later picked up at Nain in St Elizabeth, where the police recovered another stolen vehicle.
"At this point we thought perhaps things would be getting easier, but we were wrong. Because each time the investigation points us to a suspect, that suspect points us to another in the ring of thieves. It just kept getting bigger," Thompson said.
Following the operations in St Elizabeth, the police raided a premises on Chelsea Avenue, Kingston 10, where they held on to another suspect and seized a stolen Mitsubishi Lancer motor car. "He had turned up to sell the car when the police picked him up," said Thompson....
Author: Paul Clarke
Source: Jamaica Observer
