Police made plans to stop Tivoli gunmen from freeing Horizon prisoners

Deputy Commissioner of Police Clifford Blake gave testimony at the Tivoli Commission of Inquiry on Tuesday, that the police were aware that gunmen inside Tivoli were planning to free prisoners from the Horizon Remand Centre.

Blake said as the police made preparations to enter the community to serve a warrant of arrest on Coke, they made contingency plans to prevent any attempt by gunmen to enter the penal facility and free prisoners.

“We were well aware that attempts could be made to breach the perimeter wall and free prisoners. We made contingency plans to make sure that did not happen,” he said during his testimony in chief.

Blake also said that a medical plan was put in place and various routes were mapped out to ferry injured cops to the Kingston Public Hospital. He said the security forces were also looking at transporting the injured to the University Hospital of the West Indies which was not in the demarcated area where a fierce gun-battle between gunmen and the security forces was expected to unfold.