Lotto scammers in Jamaica could soon be extradited to face charges overseas.

National Security Minister, Peter Bunting, said it is his understanding that a number of cases are being worked on by foreign law- enforcement agencies. Extradition falls under the Ministry of Justice.

"I would not be surprised if, in due course, we see extradition requests coming," he told journalists last week during a tour of crime hot spots in the parish of St James.

He said the Government is committed to breaking the back of the lotto scam, which he argued is at the heart of the crime situation in the parish. He said that St James has more than twice the murders of any other parish.

"We are doing some amendments to the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) and, ultimately, I think we may need to put in a specific piece of legislation to deal with the various

types of "advance fee fraud, including lotto scamming," he stated.

He stated that additional police and military personnel have been deployed to the parish, which has brought a substantial reduction in the rate of murders.

"It is still early, but I anticipate that if we can maintain that deployment over a sustained period, we will be able to normalise the violent crime situation in St James for the time being, but long-term, if we are to sustain any successes we have, we have to break the back of the lotto-scamming operations, because that continue to fuel criminality right across the parish," he said.

Accompanying the minister on the tour were: Commissioner of Police, Owen Ellington; assistant commissioner of police in charge of Area One, Devon Watkiss; and superintendent of police in charge of the St James division, Andrew Lewis.