Mark Wignall | Who’s planning the bloodbath?

As the last remaining days of 2024 slipped into the glory of the last few Negril sunsets left, so too did 2025 announce its presence with a hope we could bear.

If the prime minister (PM), the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and its administration were looking into early 2025 for the very worst of the expectation and reality a political entity could deal with. a massive gun find would not quite make the list.

And yet it was that very happening which took place. The newspaper report on May 29 about a huge gun find at a Kingston warehouse stunned me silly. Reportedly, the warehouse in West Kingston is owned by a well-known JLP-connected family. Many people use it for their shipping needs.

The find has shocked others. A veteran educator called me early last week. “The equation is simple. Those guns will not exist only to make noise at Christmas.

“A common objective had to be in place. The security ministry must assume the worst and stand with his best team, smartly in defiance of the way of those objectives being met.”

You may be forgiven for needing a few extra days to process the massive gun find. The number of guns found is around 233. Some 74 rifles and 159 handguns, and thousands of assorted bullets. Hidden in commercial/industrial water heaters. Incredible!

In the way-back past, I have stared down at these weapons of death inside various police stations. I can tell you that they look like death and definitely feel like cold, impending death. I have seen photographs of skulls cracked open by M-16 bullets. And yes, I have seen the tears and sensed the pain of those involved.

Many questions automatically jump to the fore. One, were these guns and ammunition somehow connected to the upcoming election via the People’s National Party (PNP) and/or the JLP? Two, after the initial announcement was made regarding the gun and ammunition find, Minister of National Security Horace Chang stated the release of information about the gun and ammunition find was premature. That is very odd and almost comical, Minister Chang. Minister, you are normally known to have a stronger backbone than the oatmeal one you are showing now.

TUMBLED DOWN

I can understand that, in the general election year, they are being tumbled down a rocky hill of no destination. Politicians hate to be in this conundrum. So this gun find would be like a political tsunami. Such a huge find would have to be assessed and discussed at the highest levels of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), the JDF and the Ministry of National Security. But, how could someone be allowed to prematurely release information about the find, Minister Chang? Not even under the guise of your having ‘mis-spoken’ can we allow this one through the widest gate of credulity.

As of Thursday morning, I have not heard from the minister, based on the text message I sent him last Wednesday.

Overall, there has been silence since, with no follow-up information. And it begs the reason. Why? Or, is the pause deliberate, in the service of seeking public and private feedback? Is the government scared of the public reaction? Well, it ought to be. Too many things are happening all at once.

The JLP suspects that it is in a better political and electoral condition than the PNP but it doesn’t want to show too many of its get-out-of-jail cards too early. The consumer satisfaction survey of late last year gave the JLP a welcome jump start.

The fact is, the number of guns and ammunition is staggering and the thought of it is enough to trigger cardiac arrest at a national level.

Think of all of those guns. Enough to arm all the gullible young boys at your nearest Sunday School picnic.This question must also be asked; Is someone in Jamaica planning a bloodbath? Could this find result in the government declaring a state of emergency and thus delaying the upcoming general election? Another most important question. These guns were detected, that is good, but have there been other large shipments of guns and ammunition that have come into Jamaica undetected? If so, how many? If even one large shipment of guns and ammunition the same size as the recent seizure have come in each year for the last five years, that would be around a thousand guns. Another worry we could do without. .

Someone or some people with money and power are involved. The guns are not cheap, and the effort to conceal them is also making the cash register tick. The whole operation was expensive. If a Jamaican gang did this, I can only declare, look out for odd movements in your community, as they seem to have close contact with some serious money and resources.

GUNS AND THE OLD RACKETS

This took place in the 1970s. A big gun find at Kingston Wharves. It hit the airwaves and The Gleaner and STAR covered it. The cache was quickly removed to a nearby police station. In those days, many internal operations of police stations were controlled by dons who held the most power in the community.

A few months later, there is another gun find on the same dockside operations. The words from the photographer on site are not exactly shocking to those knowing their way through the maze of wharf corruption, “R … mi tek dem same picture months ago.”

In other words, the cache of arms and ammunition that were supposed to have been kept in the security of the government of Jamaica at that time in the 1970s were being ‘exported’. Some people were getting rich, some were running away, some dying, some laughing, while others were in the juggling fattening their bank balances. Almost everything was illicit. Such were the times.

It is easy to assume that the present cache of arms and ammunition is safe either at Up Park Camp or in the custody of the JCF. At the very least, we ought to ensure that there is no movement during storage whatsoever. not even a bullet, by even a millimetre, as the sharp-minded and well-equipped detectives in the JCF keep their tools ready and open for ALL possibilities.

The nation watches. With trepidation.

Mark Wignall is a political and public affairs analyst. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and mawigsr@gmail.com.