Five firearms seized across the West

Michael Nattoo – Staff Reporter

Hot on the heels of the seizure of four high-powered rifles in Salt Spring, St. James last week, the security forces are reporting the seizure of another five guns across the crime-plagued Western Jamaica.

In a renewed drive to ‘get the guns’, lawmen conducted targeted operations across various sections of the West, which led to the seizure of a Beretta 9mm pistol, a .38 Revolver, a Smith and Wesson .44 Magnum Revolver, a Desert Eagle pistol and a Taurus Millennium .45 pistol. In all five seizures, the lawmen also confiscated varying quantities of ammunition.

Around 5 a.m. on Saturday, the police were alerted to an incident at a night club in Kings Valley, Grange Hill, where a man was arrested and charged for illegal possession of firearm and ammunition. Details are that the man was reportedly discharging his firearm in the air, shortly after which the lawmen arrived on the scene. He was accosted and searched, and the Desert Eagle pistol, containing three .40 cartridges, were taken from his rear pants pocket.

In the second seizure recorded on Saturday, Rose Heights, St. James, in an area known as Beirut, accounted for the recovery of the Taurus Millennium .45 pistol, with a magazine containing 10 rounds. In that planned operation, the lawmen went to premises in the above-mentioned community, where a dwelling was searched and the firearm recovered. In addition, the lawmen also found one 9mm cartridge and fifteen 12-gauge cartridges. Three men and a female were taken into custody following that find.

While that operation took place, another coordinated joint police/military effort was underway in Ricketts Street, Westmoreland, where lawmen searched and found in an abandoned building the Beretta 9mm pistol, which contained eleven rounds of ammunition. No one was arrested in connection with that find.

MONDAY’S SEIZURES

The push to recover illegal firearms continued well beyond the weekend – an effort which yielded the recovery of the remaining firearms collected up to Monday.

In Wait-A-Bit, Trelawny, an operation conducted around 4:30 p.m. led to the recovery of the .38 Revolver in Gravel Lane in the area. No arrests were made in connection with that find.

Westmoreland accounted for the seizure of the Smith and Wesson .44 Magnum Revolver. In that incident, carried out sometime around 4:45 p.m., an operation involving the raid of an abandoned house in Good Hope, Negril, saw the lawmen recovering the firearm, which contained two .44 cartridges.

The lawmen continue their push to recover illegal firearms, which have been the choice weapon for murderers wreaking havoc across the West.