Jamaican gangster still at large

POLITICS - It is now day 5 of a Jamaica wide manhunt for the infamous drug lord aptly named Christopher Coke, also known as "Dudus". He is considered to be one of the biggest drug lords in the world with a massive following of people who consider him both a saint and a sinner.

On the streets of the Jamaican capitol of Kingston he's also known as "the President" due to his sheer wealth. His drug consortium provides a large chunk of cocaine and marijuana to the United States and the USA has been trying to capture or extradite him for years now.

The problem however is that Christopher Coke is stretching his muscles and showing he won't be caught so easily. Armed gangs loyal to him have been waging a miniature civil war on the streets of Kingston for 5 days now and casualties reached 44 people dead last night.

The civilian population blames the government, saying what they're doing is illegal, but police and military forces involved insist everyone they've killed was shooting back at them.

Three days ago masked men torched a police station and Coke's army of fighters have been staging hit and run ambushes against the police and military ever since, forcing Jamaica to declare a state of emergency.

The Jamaican government has asked publicly for Christopher Coke to surrender himself to police, but Coke's leadership of a group known as "the Shower Posse" (so called for showering their victims with bullets) suggests that he would sooner go out in a hail of bullets than surrender.

A short, educated man and father of four Christopher Coke is now believed to be hiding somewhere outside of Kingston, far away from fighting which has reduced Kingston's normally bustling streets to the decibel level of a library... with the exception of the sporadic sounds of distant gunfire and explosions.

The Shower Posse reputedly is resorting to propaganda tactics to encourage normal Jamaicans to oppose the police. Two days ago a group of them went to a house while masquerading in police uniforms, ordered the five people outside, burned down the house and showered all five residents with bullets in a crude attempt to turn the public against the government.

Sadly it might be working. There is a lot of support amongst the poor in Kingston for a man promoted to be a type of Robin Hood. The botched attempt to capture him and the 50+ deaths so far have only strengthened the Jamaican government's resolve to capture him and put an end to the gang violence.