Glenroy Sinclair and Stephanie Elliot, Gleaner Reporters
THE QUIET farming district of Pennant in north Claren-don remained on edge yesterday, following the gun slaying of 35-year-old Bashington 'Chen Chen' Douglas, the prime target of the controversial police operation in Kraal in May 2003.
Douglas was discovered wrapped in a sheet, with a single bullet to the head, in his two-bedroom house, the police reported yesterday.
Preliminary investigations suggest that his death may be linked to a dispute over roadwork in the parish.
TENSION OVER ROADWORK
"What we know is that over the past two weeks there has been tension between two groups over roadwork," head of the Clarendon Police Division, Superintendent Derrick Knight, told The Gleaner yesterday.
There are allegations that Douglas, who is originally from Homestead in Spanish Town, St. Catherine, had recruited men from the Old Capital, to Clarendon, to work on the project. Tensions rose as factions from the area were reportedly angered that they did not benefit.
A resident of Pennant who spoke with The Gleaner yesterday said over the past two weeks he and Douglas had received death threats. But contacted yesterday, the police could only confirm the threats on the other man's life.
It has been three years since members of the now-defunct Reneto Adams-led Crime Management Unit killed four persons at a house in Kraal, under controversial circumstances. The four - Lowena Thompson, Kirk Gordon, Matthew James and Angela Richards, who was Douglas' fiancée - were killed during what police said was a shoot-out.
The police had gone to Kraal in search of Douglas who escaped that incident. The six lawmen who were subsequently charged were later acquitted of murder.
Yesterday Superintendent Knight said the police were maintaining a strong presence in the area as some residents fear reprisal attacks.
