Laura Redpath, Freelance Writer

Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Karl Samuda, yesterday rebuked those responsible for removing an estimated 500 truck-loads of sand from a property at Coral Spring, Trelawny.

The Island Special Constabulary Force (ISCF) is investigating the illegal sand mining at the beachfront property.

"They're thieves and a thief is a thief is a thief," Samuda said. "And if you're a little man trying to hustle and you steal, you're a thief. And you're a big multimillionaire and you steal, you must suffer the consequences," he warned.

Consortium Felicitas Limited owns the 64 acres of Coral Spring property in Trelawny, which has been devastated within the last two to three weeks. Fredrik Moe, Felicitas managing director, said the land was prime real estate that attracted both local and overseas investors.

Testing of samples

Deputy commissioner of the Mining and Geology Division, Paul Henry, said a team went to the site yesterday to collect sand samples. These samples are to be taken back to a lab and tested. The make-up of the sand may be compared to other samples from other locations. If they match, the culprit may be caught.

Henry said the sample results should be out in a week.

Commander Rupert Rushton, of the ISCF rural operations, was on site and described the Coral Spring area as he saw it.

"A section of the beach has been removed," he said.

No witnesses

Rushton said there were no witnesses and that the sand mining operation must have taken place at night. He was also unable to say when the sand was taken and when the official report had been made to the police.

According to James Golding, ISCF's deputy commandant in charge of metropolitan operations, it was unusual for sand to be taken from a beach.

"Normally, we have people mining river sand," he said.

However, according to Diana McCaulay, chief executive of the Jamaica Environment Trust, the issue of stealing beach sand onthe north coast has been around fora long time and there are repercussions.

"Any kind of bad weather will have a greater effect on a beach that has already been damaged than one that hasn't," McCaulay said. "It can affect the whole stability of the beach."