Black River, St Elizabeth

St Elizabeth police say they expect to make additional arrests soon as investigations continue into the December 20 seizure of 10 guns including eight AK47s at the Great Bay fishing village in South West St Elizabeth.

Four fishermen, allegedly seen by the police as they unloaded guns and ammunition from a boat and transferred them to a house, were arrested and charged with illegal possession. The three, Arden Ebanks, 57, of Mitchell Town, Clarendon; Carlington Parchment, 26, of Great Bay, and Bryan Parchment, 32, of Great Bay appeared in the Black River Resident Magistrate’s Court on January 2 and were remanded in custody until January 17 when they will return to court.

The fourth man, Alvin Ashley, 31, of Mitchell Town, Clarendon was granted bail worth $500,000 for health reasons and will return to court.

Police chief in St Elizabeth, Supt Maurice Robinson who led the operation in Great Bay said investigators were following strong leads and more arrests were likely soon.

Robinson who participated in the seizure of 20 illegal guns in the parish last year said the police were seeking to earn the trust of citizens by responding swiftly to reports of illegal guns.

“We believe that if we are seen to be acting on information received from the public we will get even more information,” Robinson said.

Since the operation at Great Bay, said to be the biggest ever gun find in the parish, the St Elizabeth police have seized four illegal guns. The last, a 5.5mm German-made sniper rifle was found in bushes at Speculation District, close to Brompton in South West St Elizabeth – the only one so far this year.