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$11-m drug bust; 3 arrested

Monday, July 15, 2013

THREE persons are now in custody after members of the Marine Police Division seized 2,018.6 pounds of marijuana and 35.8 pounds of hashish in Manatee Bay, Old Harbour, St Catherine over the weekend.

The drug is said to have an estimated street value of $11 million.

The Marine Police reported that about 12:30 pm a team was conducting patrol when they observed a marine vessel hidden in the mangroves. A subsequent search of the vessel revealed the contraband, wrapped in plastic bags. The vessel and the drug were subsequently seized.

Head of the Marine Police Superintendent Terrence Sancko yesterday commended his officers for their professionalism and hard work. He vowed to continue the monitoring of the island's coastline to put a dent in the drug trade.

Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/-11-m-drug-bust--3-arrested_14685827#ixzz2Z9JNHeYQ

Asafa, Sherone’s trainer detained by Italian police...

... after athletes return positive drug tests

BY PAUL A REID Observer writer

Monday, July 15, 2013

MONTEGO BAY, St James — A physical trainer associated with former world record holder Asafa Powell and Olympic medallist Sherone Simpson was last night held and questioned by Italian police about the presence of banned substances found in samples provided by the athletes at the recent JAAA National Senior Championships held in June.

Powell's publicist and business partner Tara Playfair-Scott confirmed on her twitter page that the Canadian trainer, who joined the MVP camp in May, was detained by Italian police after the officers raided his hotel room at the MVP base in Italy. Jamaica Observer sources say the police confiscated a number of items from the trainer's hotel room. The trainer's name is however being withheld.

Former world record holder Asafa Powell and Olympic medallist Sherone Simpson (right) have returned positive drug tests for banned substances.

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Yesterday both athletes, along with discus thrower Allison Randall, the Central American and Caribbean Senior Games gold medallist, released statements confirming anti-doping authorities had notified them that they returned adverse analytical findings at the Trials.

The Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCo) had confirmed yesterday also that five Jamaican athletes had returned adverse analytical findings at the JAAA National Senior Championships held in June -- two sprinters and three from the field events.

Powell and Simpson tested positive for the substance oxilofrine (methylsynephrine), which is a stimulant, while Randall tested positive for Hydrochlorothiazide, a diuretic which can be used as a masking agent for other more serious drugs.

As a result of the findings all three have been provisionally banned from further competition, and Simpson, who had finished second in both the 100m and 200m at the Trials, will likely miss the IAAF World Championships to be held in Moscow August 10-18.

Powell had placed seventh in the men's 100m final and out of the running for a place in the 100m, but a series of good performances since the Trials, including a season's best 9.88 seconds run at an IAAF Diamond League meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, had seen calls for his inclusion in the relay pool.

Randall, who competed at the Olympic Games in London last year, and who is coming off a back injury she suffered in April, had failed to make the 'B' qualifying standard for the World Championships, despite winning a second straight Jamaican title and the CAC Senior title last week in México.

Powell said in his statement: "I want to be clear in saying to my family, friends, and most of all my fans worldwide that I have never knowingly or wilfully taken any supplements or substances that break any rules. I am not now -- nor have I ever been -- a cheat."

Powell's release said his "team" had launched "an internal investigation, and we are cooperating with the relevant agencies and law enforcement authorities to discover how the substance got in my system. I assure you that we will find out how this substance passed our rigorous internal checks and balances and design systems to make sure it never happens again."

The man who has run nearly 90 sub-10-second races, more than any other human being, said his "attitude towards doping regulations and testing is well known, and I willingly give samples whenever requested". The results had "left me completely devastated in many respects. Professionally, this finding fully negates any possibility of me being a part of Jamaica's contingent of athletes competing at World Championships in Moscow later this summer".

Simpson denied that she would ever take any form of illegal substance. "I want to sincerely say to my family (especially my parents, grandparents and siblings), Paul Doyle (agent), MVP track club, fellow athletes, former sponsors, and the rest of Jamaica that l am deeply sorry for any hurt or embarrassment this positive test may (have) caused." She added: "My team and I will try to do everything we can to get this issue dealt with as best as we can."

Randall, who is based in the US, told the Jamaica Observer yesterday that she was shocked and embarrassed by the result. "I have not intentionally taken any banned substance. I have been vigilant with everything I consume, so I am extremely shocked and surprised by this incident."

The master's candidate who also works full time while training, added: "I do not have the desire, nor the means to cheat. I have never even seen steroids, and don't know the first thing about them. I am willing to undergo any other testing methods to prove my innocence (blood, hair, spinal tap). I love throwing the discus for my country, and I hope this incident clears up after my 'B' sample has been tested."

Struggle to save 4-y-o

Family unable to find $1.7 million for son stricken by cancer

BY INGRID BROWN Associate editor - special assignment browni@jamaicaobserver.com

Monday, July 15, 2013

JULIET McNamee has been sleeping on a chair for the last three months as she refuses to leave the side of her four-year-old son Ajani Campbell, who has been a cancer patient at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) since April 23.

The cost for the treatment has not only depleted McNamee's entire savings but severely hinders her ability to care for her 11-year-old daughter, who is struggling to deal with the absence of her mother from the family home in Christiana, Manchester.

Ajani still smiles despite having undergone several surgeries and procedures to keep away the cancer which has been ravaging his body.

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Ajani's father, Andre, is said to have sold all prized possessions, including his beloved pit bulls, and has given up his rented flat to move back in with his mother as the family sacrifices everything to save their son.

But there doesn't seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel for this family, who, having watched their son return from death's door, is now faced with the harsh reality that all their sacrifice will be in vain if they fail to find $1.7 million, in the next seven weeks, to pay for radiation treatment to keep at bay the cancer eating away his body.

"There was a time he was so sick that every day I was preparing to hear the worst and now that we are at that point of breakthrough, it seems like it is out of reach because we can't find the money for this radiation," a distraught McNamee told the Jamaica Observer.

McNamee said there was no early warning signs that the energetic and bright Ajani was sick until three months ago when he complained of not feeling well.

"He came home one day from school with a fever, headache and vomiting and two days later his left eyeball started to swell," she recounted.

He was admitted to the Percy Junor Hospital, suffering from severe dehydration and later transferred to UHWI for a CT scan.

"The ambulance took us to UHWI on April 23 and I have not been back home since because I am afraid to leave him," she said, adding that she is now torn between staying with her son and being there for her daughter who has not been coping with the separation.

"She always say she know I would have done the same for her but (last) Sunday when she was leaving she break down and started to cry and I know she feels it even more because it is summer and I am not there for her," said McNamee.

The family's painful journey began when the CT scan found that Ajani had fluid in the brain and a tumour to the back of the head which was later confirmed as cancerous.

From there, it was a downhill spiral after he underwent surgeries to remove the tumour and the excess fluid from the brain.

"For one month he was unable to open his eyes, talk, or breathe on his own," McNamee told the Observer, explaining further that another complication which has since developed is Ajani's inability to swallow. This has resulted in his being fed through a tube as doctors try to figure out if something is blocking his throat or the surgery has rendered him unable to carry out this function.

Last Wednesday, when the Observer spoke with McNamee, Ajani had just returned from the operating theatre where he had undergone a further procedure to figure out what should be done.

In the last few weeks, Ajani's spirit has returned as once again he has been able to talk and walk around, but McNamee fears this progress will be short-lived if he doesn't get radiation treatment.

Given the effects of the surgery on his body, McNamee said the doctors do not want to do another to remove the rest of the tumour and has recommended that radiation be done instead.

However, the Kingston Public Hospital and Cornwall Regional Hospital where radiation is done do not cater to children, leaving the family with no choice but to pay the $1.7 million to have it done privately.

According to an emotional McNamee, the doctors have given her two months to have the radiation done if the cancer is to be prevented from returning. "I have gone three weeks already and I just don't know what to do because every day I go on the road to these various places to seek help but all I can hear is no," she said.

The Sandals Foundation has since pledged $500,000 to the procedure but McNamee said she has exhausted all options to find the remainder. In the meanwhile, the hospital fees continue to climb past the $1.6 million that is now owed. Unwilling to leave her son's bedside, McNamee said she has no form of income as she lost her job a month before Ajani's diagnosis and cannot go in search of another. Since then she has had to withdraw her daughter from extra lessons and extra-curricular activities as she struggles to scrape everything to save her other child's life.

McNamee said she has to sleep in a chair by his bedside in order to be there when he wakes in the night and begins to fuss. The hospital, she said, provides her with a folding bed; however, she is unable to use it as she often has to hold him in her arms when he is having any discomfort.

"So, I just have to sleep in this chair every night and right now my feet are swollen because of that," she said.

But McNamee is remaining optimistic that her son will get the help he needs so the family can reclaim their lives.

"There was a time that he was so sick that doctors and family members thought he wouldn't make it but he has gone through so much and for him to be still here fighting then I know God won't take us this far to leave us," she said.

A Good Samaritan Jeanne Croskery who first brought the family's plight to the Observer, said she has been touched by McNamee's struggle to save her son's life.

"She has slept in a chair for the past 10 weeks because she has refused to leave his side and although Ajani has been through so much he still continues to smile," she said.

An account has been opened at the Jamaica National Building Society, account number 10954963.