Gun hunt steps up
Published:Tuesday | June 1, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Arthur Hall, Senior Staff Reporter
Jamaica Defence Force soldiers yesterday continued their painstaking search of west Kingston for the illegal guns believed to be among the arsenal amassed by the makeshift militia loyal to accused drug baron Christopher 'Dudus' Coke.
Since last week, the security forces have reportedly seized 36 illegal guns and 9,241 rounds of ammunition in the communities.
Most of the weapons and ammo were seized after fierce gunfights in Tivoli Gardens and its outskirts had abated last Wednesday. The cops believe there are many more to be found.
"What we have found so far are the loose guns. We have not yet found where the majority of the weapons are being stored," a soldier told The Gleaner, as his team did house-to-house searches on Bread Lane in Denham Town yesterday.
No stone unturned
The soldiers yanked manhole covers, moved old appliances, and rummaged through rubbish and dug up unpaved sidewalks as they probed every conceivable spot where criminals might have hidden their weapons.
Vehicles travelling into and out of the area were also searched, while residents and even journalists, were subjected to frisks as they moved through the community.
The security forces have taken up strategic positions in Tivoli Gardens and Denham Town since last Tuesday after they beat back a hodgepodge of gunmen who had turned the communities into battleground fortresses.
"The people of Tivoli have been under the stranglehold of a criminal gang for too long.
"I think what we have done in recent days is to disrupt the capacity of the gang and we have displaced significant leadership and membership," Police Commissioner Owen Ellington told the Jamaica Information Service during a tour of west Kingston on Sunday.
"We intend to continue on this mission to completely disarm the gang," Ellington added.