Teenagers arrested as cops seize 1,500 bulbs believed part of batch from Cuba
KARYL WALKER, Crime/Court Co-ordinator walkerk@jamaicaobserver.com Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Two teenagers, one of them believed to be the son of a People's National Party (PNP) councillor, are now behind bars after police seized 1,593 light bulbs they suspect are linked to the Cuban light bulb saga and recovered a stolen motor vehicle.
According to head of the St Andrew North police division, Superintendent Anthony Morris, the two teenagers were stopped along Stony Hill Road during a routine spot check.
"They were driving a grey Totoya Yaris and when we checked we found that the plates were not consistent with the car. It was discovered that the car was reported stolen in the St Andrew Central division and the two were taken into custody," Morris told the Observer as officers counted the light bulbs last night.
After questioning the teenagers, the cops went to a house in St Andrew where the teenagers live and found the bulbs, Morris said.
Police say they believe the bulbs are part of a shipment of four million energy-saving fluorescent light bulbs donated by the Cuban Government.
Former junior minister in the PNP Administration, Kern Spencer, his personal assistant Coleen Wright and businessman Andrew Chin are out on bail facing corruption, money laundering and fraud charges in connection with what has become known as the Cuban light bulb scandal.
In January, the auditor-general reported that about 176,380 of the four million bulbs, costing about $92 million, could not be found. There are also allegations that the contracts to distribute the bulbs were unfairly granted and that Spencer had unlawfully meddled in the allocation of the contracts. The distribution project reportedly cost taxpayers $267 million.