SECURITY forces swooped down on the upper St Andrew home of Kingston Mayor Desmond McKenzie yesterday, indicating they were leaving no stone unturned in the hunt for Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke.
The raid that was timed to take place as the mayor accompanied Prime Minister Bruce Golding on his first tour of Tivoli Gardens since security forces took control of the community, left the outspoken mayor fuming.
He told journalists he would be seeking clarification from Police Commissioner Owen Ellington into the search by police of two of his premises in the upscale Waterworks community of St Andrew, north of the capital.
“I spoke with the commissioner and I am going to go in to speak with him again because I need some answers,” an infuriated McKenzie told reporters, following a tour of one of the premises on Springs Way in the community yesterday.
“If I am a person of interest that the security forces want, I am not hiding. If they want to talk to me, they know where to find me. They didn’t have to go to my house and frighten the hell out of my family,” fumed McKenzie.
The mayor said that he was informed by one of his sons that about five carloads of police officers had barged into his other home on Park Way and verbally assaulted him, as well as other relatives and workers there.
He said that before that incident, the officers went to the premises on Springs Way, where they dislodged a gate and forced open several window shutters, damaging them.
Yesterday, a police source told the Observer that the cops were interested in a sports utility vehicle which was suspected to have been featured in suspicious activity in Tivoli Gardens.
The cops, however, found that the vehicle they were interested in was not the one at McKenzie’s residence.
“The police went there asked some questions and left,” said the policeman, who asked not to be named.
The Police high command later confirmed the search of McKenzie’s houses.
“Following information that a vehicle that fits the description of one that was regularly transporting suspicious persons in the Western Kingston area last week was parked at the mayor’s house, the police went to his house to check on the vehicle,” a statement issued by the police information arm, the Constabulary Communication Network (CCN) said.
“The mayor’s son was present and he produced documents which satisfied the police that the vehicle belonged to the McKenzies.
“Following authentication of ownership, the police then conducted a security search of the house,” the CCN said.
McKenzie, who is the councillor for the Tivoli Gardens division, grew up in the West Kingston community and is a protege of former Member of Parliament for West Kingston, Edward Seaga, who also served as prime minister from 1980 to 1989.
Police are intensifying their search for fugitive Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke, who has been on the run since the security forces launched a major offensive against his former stronghold, Tivoli Gardens, last week Monday.
Asked whether or not yesterday’s operation could be linked to the hunt for Coke, McKenzie responded: “What would he be doing at the home of Desmond McKenzie?”
“If you are going to come look for Dudus at my house, then you are supposed to be on the Cartoon Network on Saturday mornings. That would be a joke, it would be ridiculous,” he said.
McKenzie in the meantime speculated that the search of his homes may have been a result of his challenging reports made by the security forces that underground tunnels had been discovered in the Tivoli Gardens community.
“I am just wondering if they are trying to bring pressure to say well ‘shut your mouth’, and if that is what they are trying to do, I am not falling for it,” McKenzie said.
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