By Sue-Ann Wayow
MORE than 600 firearms have been seized by the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) since January.
According to a TTPS media release on Saturday, the seizure of four firearms on Friday night into Saturday morning has increased the total number of illegal guns seized to 604 to date.
In various exercises across several policing divisions, police officers seized one AR-15 rifle fitted with a magazine containing 29 rounds of 5.56 ammunition, three homemade shotguns, one magazine containing 10 rounds of 5.56 ammunition and 106 grammes of marijuana.
A 56-year-old Manzanilla man is currently in custody and is expected to be charged with Possession of Firearms Without a Firearm User’s License and Possession of Firearms for the Purpose of Trafficking in connection with the seizure of the three homemade shotguns.
In the first exercise, according to police reports, at 8.15 pm on Friday, officers of the North-Eastern Division (NED) Intelligence Unit and the NED Task Force were patrolling the Morvant Police District when they received information about firearms and ammunition being stashed in a bushy terrain in the West Moore area.
Police officers immediately rushed to the location where an operation was carried out. During the search of several unoccupied bushy parcels of land, the team of officers found one AR-15 Rifle fitted with a magazine with a 45 rounds capacity containing 29 rounds of 5.56 ammunition along with two pairs of motor vehicle number plates.
In the second incident, a 56-year-old Manzanilla man was arrested during a road traffic stop by officers of the Manzanilla Police Station who were conducting checks at various spots and roads in the area.
Additionally, NED Task Force and Coastal Unit officers as well as members of the Canine Branch carried out searches in the Black Ford Street area where one transparent plastic bag containing 106 grammes of marijuana was found in an abandoned house.
The officers also proceeded to and conducted a search of an open area which housed derelict structure along Cocoa Street, Santa Cruz, where a black plastic bag was found under a piece of galvanise with one magazine containing 10 rounds of 5.56 ammunition. Investigations are ongoing.
The TTPS assures that gun seizure operations are ongoing within communities and continues to urge citizens to share information with law enforcement by dialing 555, CRIME STOPPERS at 800-TIPS or via the TTPS’ App.
