By Sue-Ann Wayow
FORTY illegal firearms were seized by police in February.
The Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) reported the confiscating of six more illegal guns on Monday including an AR-15 rifle and AK-47.
Three of the firearms, along with varying quantities of ammunition, were seized during exercises conducted in the North Central Division, while the fourth weapon, was seized in the North Eastern Division, the TTPS stated in a media release on Tuesday.
On Monday, while conducting an exercise around 5.15 pm, officers received certain information, proceeded to Tunapuna Road, Tunapuna. There, the officers intercepted a white Nissan B12, vehicle, with three occupants.
However, two of the occupants ran away and escaped, leaving the front seat passenger in the vehicle.
When the officers searched the vehicle, they found one AR-15 rifle, with a magazine loaded with 14 rounds of 5.56 ammunition, in the back seat of the vehicle.
The officers took possession of the illegal items, arrested a 23-year-old man from Valencia and are currently searching for the two other suspects.
In another incident, around 3.30 pm Emergency Response Patrol (ERP) officers were on exercise duty, proceeding east along San Pedro Road, Maracas, St Joseph, when PC Murray observed a man with a firearm in his right hand.
The man looked in the direction of the marked police vehicle, turned and ran away. PC Murray pursued the man, and observed the suspect throw a black object resembling a firearm, into the nearby bushes.
With the assistance of other officers, the suspect was detained. Officers from the Maracas St. Joseph Police Station were contacted, to render assistance, and a search was conducted in the nearby bushy area.
While searching along the edge of a river, PC Alleyne found a firearm, fitted with one magazine, containing 10 rounds of 9mm ammunition.
When police interviewed the suspect, they received information about the location of another firearm. The officers then proceeded to a bushy area in the said area, where they retrieved another pistol, and 11 rounds of 9mm ammunition.
Later in the day around 7.30pm, officers received information, then proceeded to a bushy area along the Maracas Royal Road, Lluengo Village. There they discovered one firearm fitted with a magazine, and one round of 9mm ammunition.
Meanwhile, in the North Eastern Division, a search warrant was executed for firearms and ammunition at a residence located at Industrial Lane, Morvant.
When a search of the residence and the surrounding environment was conducted, a bucket which contained one Micro Draco 7.62 mm x 39 mm AK-47 firearm fitted with a double magazine containing 53 rounds of 7.62 millimetre ammunition was found.
PC Kissoon seized the items, then arrested a 28-year-old man and conveyed him, along with the illegal items to the San Juan Police Station to be processed and charged.
Additionally, around 12 noon, PCs Ramjattan, Eligon and Rambhajan responded to a report of man armed with firearm at Lady Hailes Avenue, San Fernando, in the Southern Division.
Upon arrival, PC Ramjattan observed a man brandishing a firearm. The officers instructed the man to drop the weapon and he complied.
The 19-year-old suspect was arrested and the officers seized one Beretta 9mm pistol fitted with an extended magazine containing 14 rounds of ammunition.
Enquiries are continuining into all of the above discoveries.
