By John Myers Jr., Staff ReporterTHE ARRIVAL of more than 50 Jamaicans from prisons in the United Kingdom on Tuesday night was greeted with screams of joy from scores of enthusiastic relatives who gathered outside the Norman Manley Airport to await the arrival of their loved ones.
"Mi glad him come home. Him look good, mi nah lie," screamed an excited woman outside the Customs hall at the airport on seeing her relative.
After experiencing several delays, the flight transporting the persons, whose jail time was cut on condition that they returned to Jamaica, finally landed at the Norman Manley International Airport about five minutes before 11:00 p.m. With the regular white bag usually carried by deportees missing, the prisoners' arrival resembled that of valiant soldiers, armed with huge travelling bags, returning from assignment.
After nearly two hours of processing, the attention of those who gathered outside the arrival concourse was caught by a loud scream from an ex-female prisoner who darted towards a group of persons standing near the door. "Mi deh home. Mi glad fi come," she shouted before the police escorted her off to a large white bus which was parked outside.
In twos and threes the ex-British prisoners were escorted by police officers dressed in plain clothes to a large white bus. Along the way, huge bags were handed over to relatives as they happily shouted, "meet mi a Central Police Station."
OVERCOME WITH JOY
One woman, dressed in tight fitting red pants and a similar coloured blouse, who was overcome with joy, ran to hug her brother while being escorted to the bus: "Mi love yuh bredda," she cried as she hugged him tightly.
It is, however, uncertain when the next batch will arrive as the British Government, in a surprising twist, announced that it was postponing the equally surprising order to repatriate hundreds of Jamaicans in UK prisons.
Gilbert Scott, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of National Security, told The Gleaner on Tuesday that the British Government's retraction came after our Government expressed "shock and dismay" at the move and pointed out that it would hamper current bilateral agreements between the two countries in anti-narcotics operations.
About 2,400 Jamaicans are reported to be behind bars in Britain, many for drug trafficking and breaches of immigration regulations. According to the 2003 Social and Economic Survey, the majority of Jamaicans deported last year came from Britain, representing 1,982 of the 3,940 deported.
