WESTERN BUREAU:

The Freeport police in Montego Bay, yesterday detained 25 men in the wake of a fierce gun battle with gunmen in Canterbury, St James on Sunday.

Senior police officers also made a startling revelation, informing THE STAR that police and military personnel were lured into the violence prone community by gunmen and their associates who telephoned the police station, begging for help, reporting that persons including a baby had been shot, seriously injured and needed assistance.

When the security forces attempted entering the community they came under intense gunfire, lasting for between 30 and 45 minutes. "It was a plan to kill and or maim the police and soldiers. It was a trick that they played," said a senior cop, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "The security forces came under heavy fire for a prolonged period."

Police theorised that the gunmen's action was in retaliation for the seizure of an AK47 and a M1 machine gun and the fatal shooting of one of a group of gunmen, during a gun duel along the Albion main road earlier Sunday afternoon.

Up to press time yesterday, the dead man had not been identified. He is of dark complexion, slim build and about 5ft 8in. His cronies escaped.

three men

The security personnel retreated from Canterbury without injury. A Jamaica Defence Force helicopter hovered over the community for about an hour in search of criminal elements. Police said up to late Sunday night desperate calls were again made for assistance, as persons reported that three men had been shot dead.

"Again it was a plan for the gunmen to reign an attack on the security forces who would not adequately know the area. It could have been a tragedy, had they gone in," the officer said.

About 5 a.m. Monday, 150 police and military personnel swooped down on the community and detained the 25 men. Some are still in custody, as they are to face identification parades in connection with crimes committed in and around St James.

Sunday's shooting incident evokes memory of the 2003 stand-off between police and criminal elements in Canterbury, which lasted eight and half hours. Three gunmen were shot dead, four police persons shot and injured, four AK47s equipped with telescopic lens, an M16 rifle, a crocus bag of assaulted rounds and military paraphernalia were seized.