Cops seize five guns, ammo in Half-Way-Tree
THE police recovered four pistols, a shotgun and several rounds of ammunition after chasing five men who had abandoned their motor vehicle along the busy Half-Way-Tree Road yesterday morning.
According to the police, a black Izuzu SUV was seen driving down Half-Way-Tree Road when officers signalled the driver to stop. However, the police said the driver sped past the officers and stopped the car further down the road, in the vicinity of the Holy Cross Church, after which they abandoned the vehicle.
With the police chasing them on foot, the driver of the vehicle and his four passengers ran onto the grounds of the church, then made their way onto the premises of the Holy Childhood High School.
The police were unable to apprehend the men, but in an area just before the entrance to the high school, they found a Remington shotgun with 12 twelve-gauge cartridges and a .38 with six live rounds, believed to have been abandoned by the men.
The police said they later searched the SUV abandoned by the men and found a Smith and Wesson 9 mm pistol, a Bryco 9mm pistol, a 357-magnum revolver, a Balaclava mask, two magazines, two black gloves and 14 nine mm rounds. The weapons, ammunition and the vehicle were removed to the Half-Way-Tree Police Station.
According to the police, later in the afternoon a man claiming to be the owner of the black Izuzu turned up at the police station, reporting that the car had been stolen from him earlier in the morning.
Meanwhile, at the station officers showed the Observer a rusting AK47 assault rifle, a banana clip and one AK47 round which were seized during a police operation in August Town last week.
Superintendent George Quallo, head of the Half-Way-Tree police, lauded yesterday’s find.
“This is a significant find. One less weapon off the road is the more lives saved,” he said.
He noted that in recovering the weapons, the police were acting in accordance with the mandate recently issued to them by the police commissioner, Lucius Thomas, to step up hot spot patrols and to increase road policing.
