MARBELLA CLUB

The picture of Kevin Oneil Carter was published along with a 3,000-guilder (approximately US$1,700) reward on offer to any one who provided information leading to his arrest.

Jamaican man believed to be the leader of a gang of Jamaicans committing most of the armed robberies on the island of St Maarten in recent times, was on Saturday arrested by police, about four hours after his picture was published in the press on the tiny Dutch colony in the Eastern Caribbean. Carter, 22, was arrested in a community called Cay Hill just outside the island's capital of Philipsburg on Saturday morning. Police said following the publication of his picture, the police department was flooded with calls providing them with information that led to his capture. They said that about 7:30 a.m. Carter was held and while he initially resisted being arrested, was eventually subdued. Carter's Jamaican passport describes him as a farmer from Trelawny, but according to the police in St Maarten, he was armed and dangerous and was not afraid to use violence to achieve his aimss.
In recent months, St Maarten, home to several thousand Jamaicans who make their living there, has been rocked by a wave of armed robberies. Using information gleaned from their investigations into these robberies, the police surmised that many of these robberies were being committed by criminals mainly from Jamaica.
Also in recent months, more than 15 Jamaicans were arrested in connection with these robberies. Many of the arrests were made during raids carried out by St Maarten police with the assistance of special investigators flown in from Holland to tackle the rise in armed robberies. This past weekend, as residents of the island were cleaning up following the passage of Hurricane Omar, the police carried out a raid at several locations across the island, including a popular Jamaican restaurant and bar and arrested 20 persons, 11 of them Jamaicans. It was not clear if anyone collected the reward that was offered for Carter's arrest.