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Haiti's Notorious Gang Leader Arnel Joseph Arrested

Sandra Lemaire

   WASHINGTON/PORT-AU-PRINCE - A wounded Arnel Joseph was lying on a
   stretcher, ready to be wheeled into an operating room at the Bonne Fin
   hospital of Les Cayes, a Caribbean seaport located in Haiti's southern
   region, when members of a special unit of the National Police Force's
   (PNH) swooped in to arrest him.

   "We've captured Arnel!" the officers shouted angrily, then they fired
   their weapons into the air, in a video seen by VOA Creole.

   The alleged gang leader, considered to be one of the country's most
   dangerous and wanted fugitives, was awaiting surgery on his wounded
   leg, when he was found and captured, according to National Police Chief
   Michel Ange Gedeon. The leg was wounded during a fire fight with rival
   gang leader Ti Sourit, Arnel told reporters as they snapped photos and
   recorded video of him after his arrest.

   Police Chief Gédeon tweeted the news to a stunned nation.

     ð´Le chef de gang Arnel Joseph très recherché depuis des mois par
     la [1]@pnh_officiel a été appréhendé ce lundi à l'Hôpital
     Bonne Fin (Cayes). Remerciements à nos policiers et à la
     population haïtienne.[2]#PNH [3]#ArnelJoseph
     [4]pic.twitter.com/TyL6KuAXGM
     -- PNH (@pnh_officiel) [5]July 23, 2019

   "The gang leader Arnel Joseph (who) the national police force spent
   months trying to locate has been apprehended Monday at the Hopital
   Bonne Fin (Cayes). Thank you to our police officers and to the people
   of Haiti."

   The police had been tracking him for months and suspected he was hiding
   out in the lush seaside of Artibonite in the agricultural region of the
   country.

   Gedeon said the arrest "had been an obsession for the 15,000 police
   officers of the institution," during an interview with radio station
   Magik9 Tuesday morning.

   In 2018, PNH had offered a $27,000 reward (2 million gourdes) for any
   information leading to Arnel's arrest.

   Post arrest photos go viral

   Photos of the tall, thin young man in his 20s, lying naked on a dirt
   surface as people shouted questions at him quickly went viral on
   Haitian social media Monday night. In one photo obtained by VOA Creole,
   the tan Timberland-style boot of a police officer wearing camouflage
   pants can be seen pressing down on his chest. Arnel looks up in
   bewilderment.

   The image sparked questions about whether human rights activists and
   MINUJUSTH, The United Nations Mission for Justice Support in Haiti
   would investigate the circumstances of Arnel's arrest and his treatment
   by police afterward. The special unit had decided to move in on Arnel
   before the surgical procedure, rather than waiting until after it was
   over to swoop in.

   MINUJUSTH's stated mission is "strengthening Haiti's rule of law
   institutions, developing the Haitian National Police, and promoting and
   protecting human rights."

   Who is Arnel Joseph?

   The 20-something Arnel had been arrested and sentenced to six years in
   jail in 2011 for the murder of several policemen. He was released in
   May of 2017. Haiti's penal code is based on the French judicial system.
   It is unclear how his sentence was determined.

   Arnel is accused of terrorizing residents of the Village de Dieu slum
   of the capital, and more recently of robbing trucks loaded with
   merchandise, raping, kidnapping and attacking motorists on National
   Highway #1, which links the capital and cities to the north.

References

   1. https://twitter.com/pnh_officiel?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
   2. https://twitter.com/hashtag/PNH?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
   3. https://twitter.com/hashtag/ArnelJoseph?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
   4. https://t.co/TyL6KuAXGM
   5. https://twitter.com/pnh_officiel/status/1153465398794293249?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

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