MONTEGO BAY, St James — Nineteen rolls of carpeting, believed to have been among the 70,000 sq ft that went missing from the Montego Bay Convention Centre while in the custody of the Urban Development Corporation were yesterday morning found at the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) western regional headquarters in Montego Bay by the police.
The rolls of carpeting were removed from the facility, located at the Montego Freeport and which was at the time closed to the public, as senior detectives from the Montego Bay CIB questioned employees for nearly five hours.
The rolls of carpeting being removed from the National Solid Waste Management Authority western regional headquarters in Montego Bay yesterday. They were taken to the Freeport Police Station.
They were loaded onto a waiting truck and transported to the Freeport Police Station.
Yesterday, head of the St James CIB, Deputy Superintendent of Police Derrick Champagnie was tight-lipped about the operation.
"We are in the process of investigating so we cannot say anything yet," DSP Champagnie told the Observer. He did not elaborate.
Meantime, efforts to get a comment from the NSWMA proved futile as calls to cellphone of the public relations officer went unanswered.
Yesterday's police operation attracted dozens of curious onlookers.
"Every single one in the office should go to jail. None of them should be spared," a bystander shouted.
A man, who was among the crowd, was befuddled by the whole incident.
"How, in the name of Jesus, the country will be better if things like these happen?" he asked.
"Imagine, a government agency is where they find them! Me don't understand," he fumed.
Prime Minister Bruce Golding on Thursday asked that the police probe the disappearance of the carpeting and 3,000 chairs worth US$62,000 from the convention centre. The Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) had leased the items from a supplier in Puerto Rico for use at Caribbean Marketplace held at the convention centre in January. The event was the first to have been held at the newly constructed facility.
Yesterday, the police did not say whether they had any information as to the whereabouts of the chairs.
