(25 May 2010)
QUALITY AS INCOMING
1. Armed police walking rapidly through street, one crouches on ground AUDIO: gunshot
2. Armed police on street, truck with soldiers passes by AUDIO: gunshots
3. Soldiers getting off truck
4. Police on street
5. Various of police with guns drawn in street outside homes
6. Close-up of building exterior
7. Wide helicopter flying overhead
8. Police standing in street
9. Soldiers entering a fenced area with guns drawn
10. Military vehicles driving past
11. Wide of news conference held by Minister of Security Dwight Nelson and other officials
12. Cutaway of cameras
13. SOUNDBITE: (English) Dwight Nelson, Minister of Security:
"Forces, the armed forces are examining each building to ensure that there are no criminals ensconced within, in search of weapons. I think a number of weapons have been found, by my latest report a number of paraphernalia, including army fatigues, ballistic vests and binoculars."
14. Wide of news conference
STORYLINE:
Thousands of police and soldiers stormed impoverished areas in the Jamaican capital Kingston on Tuesday in search of a reputed drug kingpin wanted by the United States, intensifying a third day of street battles that have killed at least 30 people.
The masked gunmen allegedly fighting for underworld boss Christopher "Dudus" Coke say he provides services and protection - all funded by a criminal empire that seemed untouchable until the US demanded his extradition.
Jamaica's security forces, reeling from bold attacks by the masked gangsters loyal to Coke, were in the midst of a nearly daylong assault in the heart of West Kingston's poorest areas, long afflicted by gang strife.
But Coke was still at large despite the raid in his stronghold, National Security Minister Dwight Nelson told reporters at news conference.
"Forces, the armed forces are examining each building to ensure that there are no criminals ensconced within, in search of weapons. I think a number of weapons have been found, by my latest report a number of paraphernalia, including army fatigues, ballistic vests and binoculars," Dwight told reporters at a news conference.
Coke has built a loyal following in Tivoli Gardens, the impoverished area of West Kingston that is his stronghold.
US authorities say he has been trafficking cocaine to the streets of New York City since the mid-1990s, allegedly hiring island women to hide the drugs on themselves on flights to the United States.
Called "president" and "shortman" by his supporters, Coke does not wear flashy clothes or hold court at Kingston nightclubs like other powerful gang bosses.
The few published photographs of the 5-foot-4-inch (1.64 metre) Jamaican the US Justice Department calls one of the world's most dangerous drug lords show an unassuming man with a pot belly.
On Tuesday, masked gunmen in West Kingston vanished down side streets barricaded with barbed wire and junked cars.
The sound of gunfire echoed across the shantytowns on Jamaica's south coast, far from the tourist destinations of the north shore.
Schools and businesses were closed across the capital and the government appealed for blood donations for the wounded.
At the epicentre of the violence are the areas in West Kingston known as garrisons and which include the Trenchtown area where reggae superstar Bob Marley was raised.
The son of an alleged gangster, the 41-year-old Coke reportedly has strong ties to the governing Jamaica Labor Party, which has allegedly counted on gunmen inside Tivoli Gardens to intimidate election rivals.
The government imposed a monthlong state of emergency for the Kingston area on Sunday.
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