By Barbara Gayle and Adrian Frater, Staff Reporters
A Jamaica Defence Force truck yesterday transporting one of the speed-boats seized by the security forces on Sunday, from a boatyard in Rock, Trelawny. - PHOTO BY ADRIAN FRATER
TWO MONTEGO Bay businessmen, whose boats and documents were seized on Sunday in Trelawny by 'Operation Kingfish', the country's new crime-fighting plan, are threatening to take legal action if their boats are not returned.
Yesterday attorneys-at-law Lord Anthony Gifford, Q.C., and Hugh Thompson, who are representing businessmen Noel King and David Chin, issued a statement claiming that the seizure was illegal. The lawyers said that within the next two days they will be writing to the commissioner of Customs for the return of the goods. Failure to return the 12 boats, a jet ski and a case of documents will result in legal proceedings, the lawyers warned.
28 GO-FAST BOATS NETTED
The Constabulary Communica-tion Network (CCN) reported on Sunday that a task force, comprising members from the police, the Jamaica Defence Force and the Jamaica Customs Enforcement Team, raided two boatyards in Rock district, Trelawny, and Greenwood, St. James, and netted a total of 28 go-fast boats. The police reported that six persons were taken into custody and were being questioned by detectives from Kingston.
In their statement yesterday, the lawyers said that the vessels that were seized in Falmouth Harbour were either made locally or purchased from reputable dealers or brought into the island "after proper Customs procedures with duty paid where required by law".
The men said one of the boats, a grey and white fishing vessel, was actually purchased at a Customs auction in November 1999. "Documents proving the origin and ownership of the boats are now in the possession of Customs," the lawyers argued.
LEGAL ACTION ANTICIPATED
The demand to return the vessels is to be made in writing to the commissioner of Customs within the next few days and if the goods are not returned, the lawyers say their clients will be taking legal action. The lawyers added that King and Chin "reserve the right to take further proceedings for breach of their constitutional right, and to claim appropriate damages".
Meantime, security personnel were still moving go-fast boats from the boatyard in Rock, yesterday as personnel from the Jamaica Constabulary Force, the Jamaica Defence Force and Jamaica Customs Enforcement officials intensified their drive to seize boats believed to be involved in illicit activities.
"I know the operation is ongoing but I don't have all the details as to exactly what is being done," said Superintendent John Morris, the crime chief for Area One, which includes the western parishes of St. James, Hanover, Westmoreland and Trelawny. "It is an operation that is being carried out by the Operation Kingfish Task Force, which is operating out of Kingston."
