Weekly Round-up: 8 accused scammers extradited… $492m in flood damage… Fire destroys craft market
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Eight alleged members of the Lavric Willocks led lottery scamming syndicate were extradited to the US to face federal charges on Wednesday morning.
The accused — ex policeman Jason Jahalal, along with Alrick McLeod, Oneil Brown, Xanu Ann Morgan, Dario Palmer, Kazrae Gray, Kimberly Hudson and Dahlia Hunter, who is the mother Willocks — the alleged founding father and mastermind of the multimillion dollar scam left the Norman Manley International Airport on a US plane in the company of US Marshall and Jamaican police officers. Joshua Polacheck, counsellor for public affairs at the United States Embassy in Kingston, later disclosed there were thousands of similar cases under investigation.Meanwhile, Local Goverment Minister Desmond McKenzie said in Parliament that based on assessment conducted after the weekend long flood rains that swept the country, damage has been estimated at $492 million dollars. He said the assessment of the municipal infrastructure by the ministry’s technical team and the local authorities so far revealed damage estimated at a total of $139.8 million across three parishes, with St Elizabeth estimated at $23.5 million, St Thomas at $30 million and Clarendon at $86.3 million. In other news, 28 vendors who ply their trade in the Kingston Craft Market were left in limbo yesterday morning after a fire of unknown origin destroyed 18 shops at a section of the market on Ocean Boulevard.Watch as OBSERVER ONLINE wraps the week for you.See link for stories below:
8 accused lottery scammers flown out to US
Weekend flood damage estimated at $492m
Fire at Kingston Craft Market destroys 18 shops
Shaw pleased with implementation of $1.5-m income tax threshold
Gov’t takes preparatory steps to approach new US remittance tax proposal
#SectoralDebate: 60-day amnesty on traffic tickets begins July 1
#SectoralDebate: Firearm holders will lose permit over misuse of guns, warns Montague
Police figures show over 8,000 murders since 2010
Woman among 31 wanted in St James
Shopkeeper murdered in Rose Heights, St James
Shah leads Pakistan charge as West Indies wilt
CONCACAF U-17 Championship: 10-man Jamaica defeat El Salvador 3-1 to revive campaign