George Phang, whose attempted over-throw as the 'don' of Arnett Gardens is said to have been behind a month of sporadic violence in that community, was yesterday briefly detained and questioned by the police and his legal firearm seized for ballistic testing.
By Karyl Walker"I have done nothing to be arrested," Phang told the Observer last night after his interrogation and release by members of the Organised Crime Investigative Division (OCID) at the headquarters of the Special Anti Crime Task Force at Ruthven Road.
"We will be going after all the major players from both sides of this conflict," said Deputy Superintendent Derrick "Cowboy" Knight, who has just been assigned to the area by police chief, Francis Forbes.
South St Andrew and Arnett Gardens are ruling People's National Party (PNP) "garrisons" - communities where people vote overwhelmingly for one political party and opponents are often kept out by violence - and Phang is one of the party's long-time activists in the area.
But it was not only Phang's name that reached the police blotter yesterday.
They also detained Derrick "Nempo" Mitchell, a haulage contractor of a Queensborough, St Andrew address. His firearm was also seized and his home searched.
Mitchell, whose business place is at Lyndhurst, near to Arnett Gardens, is said to be a Phang supporter in the Arnett Gardens struggle.
On Monday, the police arrested Horace "Ranjani" Murphy, a so-called community leader of the Havana area of Arnett Garden.
Murphy is believed to be among the influential personalities opposed to Phang and demanding that he leaves the community.
He was held when he turned up at the Iris Gelly Primary School, one of the schools in the South St Andrew area that was being toured by Education Minister Maxine Henry-Wilson, National Security Minister Peter Phillips and senior police officers.
Murphy's licensed firearm was also seized and police who subsequently searched his home said that they found more ammunition than he was entitled to have. He was charged with illegal possession of ammunition.
Murphy, who provides bodyguard services for entertainment industry, has his three legal firearms:
. a Glock 19 pistol;
. a .40 semi-automatic pistol; and
. a shotgun.
All were seized by the police.
By law, a licensed firearm holder is allowed to have 50 rounds of ammunition in their possession at any time.
According to the police, Murphy was found with 127 excess rounds of 9mm bullets and 39 extra .40 semi-automatic rounds.
"We are exercising a zero tolerance policy and will seize all firearms," Knight told he Observer yesterday.
Tensions have been high in Arnett Gardens for several months in the face of the power struggle between Phang loyalist and a group of young people, who have apparently complained about his leadership style and his distribution of spoils between various sections of the community.
There were also quarrels over the likely apportioning of jobs under an inner-city housing development project that is soon to start in that section of the city.
The tension broke into open violence on Good Friday when a well-known community leader, Anthony "Chuncie" Folkes, 48, was shot dead at Ninth Street and Collie Smith Drive while sitting on the motorcycle overseeing the distribution of Easter buns.
There have since then a series of reprisal killings and gun fire in the area, despite the efforts of the police and the parliamentary representative for the area, Finance Minister Omar Davies, to quell the violence.
