FOUR men were last night being interrogated following yesterday’s seizure of 11 guns and 756 rounds of ammunition at Newport Customs Bonded Wharehouse in Kingston, during a joint operation between the police and Customs’ Contraband Enforcement Team.

The four arrested had gone to the wharf to clear the box in which the weapons and ammunition were found, a police spokesman told the Observer last night.

The weapons and ammunition were concealed in a Coleman 20-gallon air compressor tank, which were part of a shipment from Miami on Monday, and later transferred to warehouse 116 for checking.

The guns seized were:

* an AK47 assault rifle;

* a Maverick 12-gauge shotgun;

* a 9mm Uzi submachine gun;

* two Ruger .357 revolvers;

* a Heckler and Koch pistol;

* a Lorcin 9mm pistol;

* a .32 H & R revolver;

* a .38 Smith and Wesson revolver;

* a .22 Bryco semi-automatic pistol; and

* a .25 Westo pistol.

According to the police, a joint team, including the Contraband Enforcement Team, the South St Andrew Division and officers from the Criminal Investigation Bureau were carrying out an inspection of Wharf 116, Newport West, when they suspected a box among the shipment.

The box, which was later found to contain grocery and household items as well as the compressor tank, were kept under observation by the police and Customs officers.

And the Customs Department, in a statement last night, said its mobile x-ray unit was later engaged to assist in detecting the contents of the box, and after detecting the arms in the compressor tank it was taken to the Newport West Police Station.

A welding torch was used to cut open the compressor tank and the guns and ammunition were discovered inside.

This latest find brings to 218, the number of guns recovered by the police since the start of the year. Last year, 418 guns and 5,593 rounds of assorted rounds of ammunition were taken off the streets by the police.

In November 2001, police seized 15 guns and 41,000 rounds of ammunition in an operation in Kingston. Four persons — District Constable Desmond Gayle, Oliver Irons, a licensed firearm holder, Phillip Robinson and Leighton Pryce — were given prison sentences of 10, 15, 25 and 10 years respectively.