Four guns seized in St James, Hanover
Published:Tuesday | December 17, 2019 | 12:22 AMAdrian Frater and Hopeton Bucknor/Gleaner Writers
Western Bureau:
While the Hanover police are elated at Sunday’s seizure of two high-powered rifles among a cache of arms and ammunition seized in Dry Hill district, residents are mystified by the find, which they say is out of character with the quiet nature of the community.
“Me nearly drop down when somebody send me the picture with the gun and shot dem! No, sah! Me can’t believe seh a dat a gwaan ‘round we and we nuh know,” a resident told The Gleaner. “Me really glad seh dem find dem because maybe dem same gun deh coulda tun pon we same one.”
According to reports, on Sunday, the police carried out a predawn raid in Dry Hill and stumbled upon what is believed to be a stash house for gangsters. Two men and a woman were arrested in connection with the seizure.
“We found one M16 assault rifle, one AK-47 assault rifle and one single-action Browning pistol,” a police officer told The Gleaner. “We are really happy about this find because I am sure these guns were not for gun salute. When we seize guns, we save lives.”
Along with the weapons, the officers also seized one M16 magazine, three AK 47 magazines, four 9mm magazines, one Uzi submachine magazine, fifty-nine 7.62 rounds of ammunition, sixty-nine 5.56 rounds of ammunition, twenty 9mm rounds of ammunition, and one .45 round of ammunition.
“The pressure being put on by the state of emergency (SOE) is pushing the criminals away from the front line into the rural communities, so finding these types of weapons in a place like Dry Hill might be a surprise to the residents, but not the police,” the lawman said. “We want the residents to be vigilant and to keep looking out for strangers and strange activities and alert the police.”
Hanover, which once had the enviable distinction of being the nation’s safest parish, has been grappling with gang-related murders in recent years. Since the start of the year, the parish has recorded 30 murders.
The seizure of the rifles in Hanover brings to four the number of weapons seized across the west last weekend. On Saturday, one Uzi submachine gun was seized on Ducketts Road in Cambridge, St James.
According to reports, a group of men fled on the approach of a police-military patrol team. During a subsequent search of the area, a knapsack was seen hanging from a fence. The bag was searched and the gun was found.
Up to last Saturday, the police had seized 640 illegal weapons across the island, a decrease from the haul of 704 over the corresponding period last year. Some 13,773 rounds of ammunition have also been seized since the start of 2019, compared to 10,851 up to December 14 last year.