Members of the Agricultural Protection Branch (APB) Area 3 Team have arrested and charged three men for breaches of the Agricultural Protection Act (APA) and the Butchers Regulation Act following two separate incidents on Friday, January 23.

Arrested and charged with Failure to Produce Agricultural Receipt are 36-year-old Jermaine Mullings and 35-year-old Milton Powell, otherwise called ‘Gramazone’, both farmers of Prospect district, Baalbec, Manchester.

Meanwhile, 45-year-old Allistair Brown, a butcher of Whitney Turn, Porus, Manchester, was arrested and charged with Failing to Notify Intention to Slaughter.

Reports from the police are that about 1:03 am, the APB team visited a slaughterhouse in the area and found Brown in the process of slaughtering animals. He was asked to provide proof of notification to slaughter, but was unable to produce the required documentation. He was subsequently arrested and charged.

In a separate incident, Mullings and Powell were reportedly operating separate motor vehicles along the Bustamante Highway in Clarendon when they were signalled to stop by members of the APB team. Both men complied and were found in possession of large quantities of agricultural produce. When asked to provide receipts for the produce, neither man was able to do so.

Both were informed of the offence and later arrested and charged.

Mullings, Powell and Brown are scheduled to appear before the Mandeville Parish Court on Thursday, March 19.