By Sue-Ann Wayow
FOR the first three months of the year, over 150 illegal firearms and 4,000 rounds of ammunition were seized by police.
The Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) in a media release on Monday stated that seven more illegal firearms were seized over the weekend signalling “a positive start to the new quarter.”
Police reported that on Saturday, officers of the Southern Division Task Force observed a man standing at the side of the roadway in the vicinity of Papourie Road, Diamond Village. The officers searched the man and found four rounds of 9mm ammunition hidden in his right pants pocket.
When questioned further, the man took the officers to an open abandoned lot along Picton Street Extension, Diamond Village, where a pistol fitted with a magazine containing eight rounds of 9mm ammunition was found, hidden under a brick. The firearm and ammunition were seized and the man arrested and taken to the Marabella Police Station.
A 23-year-old man was also arrested when police stopped and searched a vehicle near to Rushworth Street, San Fernando. Police found one Smith and Wesson pistol outfitted with an extended magazine containing three rounds of 9mm ammunition. The illegal firearm and ammunition were seized and the suspect was also taken to the Marabella Police Station.
Play Whe machine seized
In Barataria, a 35-year-old man was arrested after police executed a search warrant for firearms and ammunition at a building located at Eastern Main Road. There, officers seized one Berretta pistol, with one magazine containing 15 rounds of 9mm ammunition and one white box with 40 rounds of 9mm ammunition. The officers also seized one illegal Play Whe machine during the search.
Officers of the Couva Criminal Investigations Department, Central Division continue to search for a man who ran away from police as they approached him while in the vicinity of Railway Road, Couva, on Friday.
Upon seeing the police, the man entered a track, dropped a bag and ran away as the officers pursued. The suspect escaped. When officers searched the bag, they discovered one Smith and Wesson .38 Special and four rounds of .38 Special ammunition.
Marijuana in ceiling
Around 4.45 pm on Sunday, members of the Central Division Task Force- North received information, which led them to execute a search warrant at a house located at Dhalia Avenue, Edinburgh, Chaguanas.
There, they found one P220 Sig Sauer 45 calibre pistol with three magazines, 39 rounds of .45 ammunition, 24 rounds of 9mm ammunition and 630.75 grammes of marijuana hidden in the ceiling of the building. One man was arrested and taken to the Chaguanas Police Station, along with the seized items.
South Western Division police also seized one Beretta pistol fitted with three rounds of 9mm ammunition in St Francis Village, Erin. The officers searched an unoccupied house where the firearm and ammunition were found.
Homemade shotgun found
A raid and search exercise was carried out in Sangre Grande on Sunday by officers of Sangre Grande Criminal Investigations Department and Eastern Division Task Force. During the exercise, one suspect of Sangre Chiquito was arrested for possession of firearm and possession of ammunition without a Firearm Users License and relative to enquiries into housebreaking and larceny.
During the search of the premises, one homemade shotgun together with three rounds of 12-gauge cartridges was found and seized. A DVD Player was also recovered relative to a report of housebreaking and larceny in the Sangre Grande District.
