The Mobile Reserve, which is slated to be disbanded, has been placed in the midst of another probe, this time by the Independent Commission of Investigation (INDECOM).
The tough police unit has been fingered in a probe involving a former policeman who was nabbed by a fugitive apprehension team in the United States and deported to Jamaica, but has mysteriously ‘disappeared’.
INDECOM has confirmed that it is monitoring developments surrounding the case, and is seeking answers to a number of questions relative to the matter.
INDECOM investigators told Loop News that they have been closely watching the case after information surfaced that the ex-policeman is no longer in custody less than a month after he was placed in the hands of local authorities.
The true reason for the development is still a mystery, as there are conflicting reports about the matter.
And as the probe into the matter intensifies, information has surfaced that the ex-cop was processed at the Mobile Reserve, the police unit that has been placed under the spotlight after the controversial shootings in Spanish Town last weekend that left three persons, including a policeman from the unit, dead.
It is not clear if it was at that location that the ex-cop was released, but investigators are now probing all angles to the case.
“INDECOM is aware that the (former) policeman in question was deported from the USA two weeks ago on a warrant for his arrest,” an investigator told Loop News.
The investigator did not provide information to clear up conflicting reports and questions that have been raised about the matter, including about the likely whereabouts of the former cop.
Questions have been increasingly raised about the true whereabouts of the former policeman who was deported by US authorities to Jamaica to answer to attempted murder and robbery charges locally.
Information from high-level police sources indicate that the policeman, who was on the run for close to nine years and was finally nabbed by a fugitive apprehension team in the United States and deported to Jamaica in May, was released after being placed in the hands of local authorities.
A probe by Loop News established that the former policeman was released from custody on the grounds that investigators in Jamaica needed time to carry out some checks regarding the allegations that were made about the ex-cop in Jamaica before he went to the US.
Some police investigators have since also come out to speak about the case, stating that reports within the police force that the policeman was on the run and a bounty of $500,000 was out for his capture, were not true.
But while elements within the police force have been trying to clarify the situation, Loop News investigations have been pointing to more to the case than seems to meet the eyes as it relates to reports that the ex-cop had escaped police custody locally.
Sources are, in fact, claiming that that information was likely released by persons inside the police force to send out a red flag about developments in relation to the case.
Sources said persons who were watching the case from a distance may have released the information to draw attention to the matter after claims were made and questions raised as to how was it possible for the ex-cop who was on the run for over nine years to be released less than a month after he was handed over to local authorities.
Senior investigators in the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), when questioned, declined to comment at length on the case, only to state that the matter is being investigated.
According to Jamaican law enforcement authorities, in July 2009, the policeman was charged in the Half-Way-Tree Court in St Andrew with robbery, attempted murder and wounding with intent.
In August 2009, the policeman was admitted to the US legally with a non-immigrant visa, with authorisation to remain in that country until February 7, 2010.
He, however, failed to depart the United States as required.
In August 2015, Interpol issued a Red Notice for the ex-policeman for the aforementioned crimes that were allegedly committed while he was a constable in Jamaica.
In August 2017, ERO Headquarters in Washington DC advised ERO New York that the former policeman may be living in the New York City metropolitan area.
On November 22, 2017, he was arrested in the Bronx, New York by ERO deportation officers, assisted by ERO New York Special Response Team (SRT) operators, on immigration charges.
In September 2018, the Jamaican ex-cop was ordered to be removed from the US by an immigration judge.
On March 12, 2019, an appeal of that decision to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) was dismissed, paving the way for the ex-cop’s removal to Jamaica.
Weeks after he was deported and placed in the hands of the local authorities, claims are being made that he either escaped custody or was released.
