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So-called 'gangster girls', hell-bent on wreaking havoc, are said to be on the increase in several high schools in St James, creating significant disciplinary challenges for both school administrators and the police on account of their penchant for violence, which they regularly manifest in brutal fights.

“Some of the girls are so vicious that even boys fear them,” a teacher at a prominent Montego Bay high school told the WESTERN STAR last week. “Some of these girls are gangsters ... thugs with criminal intentions.”

 A senior police source told the WESTERN STAR that based on police intelligence, many girls are intimately involved with criminal gangs and are involved in vices such as the illicit lottery scam and gun running.

“These girls are very deep in the lottery scam ... Some are even doing their own thing,” the policeman said. “Some of them are known to carry guns for gangsters because they are rarely searched by the police.”

The viciousness of the girls came to the fore at the Anchovy High School when the institution’s dean of discipline was viciously attacked when he tried to break up a fight. He was struck in his face by a stone and had to seek medical attention.

According to a teacher at the school, many of the girls, especially those from the inner-city communities in Montego Bay, regularly boast about being affiliated to criminal gangs such as the G-City, whose members are allegedly involved in devil worship and the drinking of blood; and the Nation Crocs, which allegedly was led by notorious gangster Omar ‘King Evil’ Lewis, who was murdered in Montego Bay last week.

"We see them making the ‘sixes real’ (the G-City trademark hand signal) all the time,” continued the teacher. “You will also hear them ‘bigging up’ gang members. To be honest, I just stay out of their way because when you see them you see trouble.”

Concerned about the growing influence of the gangster girls, who are regularly involved in brawls on the streets and in public transportation, Calvin G Brown, chairman of the Anchovy High School board of governors, said he will be pushing to get trained psychologists visiting the school with a view of re-socialising the students that are prone to violence.

“We are trying our best, but this situation requires the help of trained professionals such as psychologists," said Brown. “I am particularly troubled by the large number of girls who are displaying antisocial behaviours because this was never the norm.”