Manchester police hold eight in Mandeville raids day after anti-scam pledge

MANCHESTER, Jamaica — At least eight people were taken into custody on Friday when a large team of police officers searched multiple locations in Mandeville and nearby communities, just one day after the newly appointed head of the Manchester division, Odean Dennis, promised a firm response to lottery fraud in the parish.

Deputy Superintendent Valdin Amos, the division's operations officer, said the enforcement push is aimed at curbing criminal conduct across Manchester, recovering prohibited weapons, and stepping up action against lottery scamming.

Amos told reporters that some fraudsters have accumulated enough money to rent homes in upscale neighbourhoods for as long as five years in an attempt to evade detection.

"Wherever they are or hiding, we are going to find them, whichever gated community they are in, we will be at their doorstep," he said.

On Thursday, Dennis urged residents to remain alert to strangers entering their communities, pointing to the growing presence of lottery scammers in areas that were once considered peaceful.

Speaking at a Manchester Chamber of Commerce meeting held at the Golf View Hotel in Mandeville, he said: "One of the key things I am seeing as being [prevalent] in the parish is the number of scammers. It is almost as if they have found Manchester as a safe space and they have come into the place and infest it, for want of a better term. It is something that I see that we are going to have to do significant work around."