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By Nakinskie Robinson
Assistant Commissioner Calvin Allen, Commander of the Area Three Police, says the authorities will be thorough in their probe into the recent theft of mahogany lumber from the forest reserves near Accompong, St. Elizabeth over the weekend.
His comment comes after residents downed trees and blocked the passage of a seven-member team from the Forestry Department on Friday.
The security forces on Saturday managed to successfully escort the workers out of the area on foot after they had been stranded for 24 hours.
A resident of the community told Radio Jamaica News that it was illegal operators who were engaged in a standoff with the authorities after the Forestry Department said they were seizing recently cut logs.
Speaking with Radio Jamaica News on Monday, ACP Allen said the police will pursue serious action as they work to bring the perpetrators to book for the illegal harvesting as well as the barricading of the Forestry Department team.
"We cannot stand for these sort of things. We are ensuring at all levels that the necessary assessment are done. These assessment naturally guides what we do, how we do, when we do, why we do (sic)," declared the senior cop.
ACP Allen said the act against agents of the state cannot be overlooked and represents a blatant disregard for the rule of law.
"So when we see situations like these that put people's lives in danger and that renders government property to be in question, we have no other recourse but to act and to act in a very forthright, [unrelenting] way, because law, order and citizen security is paramount. So the rule of law has to be enforced and reinforced on any given territory of our country," he said.
Some 200 members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force have been deployed across the Quickstep area to support lumber recovery efforts.
The operation has led the teams some seven miles into the forest area.
Officers from St. Elizabeth, Clarendon, Manchester and Kingston are assisting with the mission.
Quickstep is located on the border of North East St. Elizabeth and Southern Trelawny.
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