National Security Minister Robert Montague has revealed that the police have on their radar close to 15,000 persons suspected to be involved in the lottery scam.
Mr. Montague’s revelation comes on heels of an announcement by US prosecutors that they are getting ready to serve up to 500 extradition requests for Jamaicans believed to be participating in the scam.
Speaking at a post sectoral debate media briefing on Thursday morning, the national security minister said the authorities will be stepping up the hunt for scammers.
“We will leave no stone unturned because the results of lottery scamming is creating mayhem upon the lives of many families and…we have to respond wholesomely and fullsomely,” Mr. Montague said.
Eight appear in US court
In the meantime, the eight members of the Montego Bay-based Lavrick Willocks lottery scam network who were extradited to the United States on Wednesday have made their first appearance in a federal court in Bismarck, North Dakota.
Speaking on RJR’s Hotline on Thursday morning, Joshua Polacheck, Consular Officer for Public Affairs at the US Embassy in Kingston, expressed confidence that based on the evidence against them, they will plead guilty.
“For something to go to extradition, it already has to be an air-tight case because we’re putting not just the US attorney’s reputation on the line… we’re putting the US government’s reputation on the line, and just to be clear, every single extradition that we’ve put forward, we have gotten a guilty verdict out of it.”