By Sherrica Thompson

Staff Writer

#Jamaica, December 21, 2022 – In an effort to counter the upsurge in crime in the country over the Christmas holiday, the government of Jamaica has established a $50m fund to motivate citizens to provide information on gangsters.

The disclosure was made by Prime Minister Andrew Holness during a handing-over ceremony of two homes in the parish of St Ann.

“… We are putting up a fund of $50 million, and depending on the quality of the information you give, you could get a nice Christmas reward,” Holness said.

Holness indicated that the fund is geared towards targeting those involved in planning hits, hijacking goods in transit and robbing supermarkets.

“We want to get people who (are) involved in contract killings, people who are planning to hijack stocks and goods in transit, and people who are planning to rob supermarkets during the Christmas season and other business places,” he explained.

The Prime Minister’s announcement comes as there have been reports of several cases of armed robberies across the country targeting a number of business establishments.

A similar initiative was established in the Cayman Islands as the government recently announced the increase of a CrimeStoppers reward to CI$100 000 for the public’s cooperation in helping the police to catch and convict those behind the unprecedented spike in robberies in the country this year.

According to Cayman News Service, 32 armed robberies have taken place across Grand Cayman in shops, restaurants, gas stations and on the street since August.