Jamaican Maroon Chief Richard Currie has been recognized as an individual of curiosity by police in reference to a current incident in Quickstep, St Elizabeth. A Forestry Division workforce was reportedly barricaded by group members on Friday in an try and disrupt an unlawful timber harvesting operation.
Senior Superintendent of Police Stephanie Lindsay, head of the Constabulary Communications Community (CCN), revealed throughout an RJR Information interview on Sunday that Currie is being requested to report back to the police by 10 a.m. on Monday.
The incident is reportedly linked to a longstanding dispute between residents and officers over allegations of unlawful lumber reducing in a protected forest space close to the group.
In response to Lindsay, Forestry Division officers have been conducting a seizure operation when the realm was blocked, resulting in a stand-off with residents who suspected the officers of looking for private achieve.
“The Forestry Division disrupted an unlawful logging operation on Friday, July 26, 2024, and was impeded in conducting its lawful duties by greater than 200 group members and the unlawful loggers,” mentioned the division in a statement.
– Commercial –
“On the afternoon of July 25, Forest Rangers from the Company recognized an in depth unlawful timber harvesting operation in Lewis Patent within the Cockpit Nation Forest Reserve, a part of the Cockpit Nation Protected Space close to Quickstep, Trelawny. Upon receiving this report, the Company dispatched a workforce on the morning of July 26 to grab the illegally harvested timber.
Upon arrival, the workforce, consisting of two Company automobiles and 7 employees members, found important unlawful harvesting actions, together with the reducing and conversion of a number of Jamaican Mahogany bushes into lumber. Greater than 500 items of lumber have been situated at a number of factors alongside trails throughout the Reserve. The workforce started retrieving the lumber, loading 150 items into the Company’s three-ton truck. Nevertheless, their exit was blocked as bushes and boulders have been used to hinder the highway. The workforce contacted the Head Workplace, and a secondary workforce was dispatched, coordinating with the police for his or her launch.”
A police-military workforce responded to the realm and escorted the eight-member Forestry Division workforce to security on Saturday afternoon. There was a reported stand-off between the residents and the safety forces throughout that point.
Keep within the Loop. Get the newest with our E-newsletter
Maroon chief criticizes authorities
Chief Currie, who has been vocal in regards to the challenge, criticized the authorities on his Instagram web page for his or her alleged involvement in unlawful lumbering.
“What’s the Forestry Division doing with mahogany? Strong mahogany. You know the way outdated this tree will need to have been… So when our folks have the issue and we elevate the issue, it’s as if we’re the obstruction…” he mentioned.
Currie additionally accused the Authorities of failing to respect its Indigenous folks and human rights, asserting that the Maroons of Quickstep have been defending their Indigenous rights towards what he described because the unlawful lumbering of mahogany bushes.
“Chief Currie is right here standing and preventing for the rights of the Maroons and the folks of Cockpit Nation, and we is not going to again down it doesn’t matter what pressure or intimidation you carry,” declared Currie.
The police are treating the state of affairs severely, with potential prices pending.
“It was a really hostile state of affairs,” Lindsay mentioned, referencing the barricading of the Forestry Division officers. She talked about that different people have additionally been recognized in relation to the incident.
“It is extremely seemingly that there will probably be prices, as a result of they take into account what occurred a really critical breach, and it actually put the lives of these people in danger,” she mentioned.
