POLICE yesterday arrested one man and recovered an illegal pistol and ammunition after a running gunbattle with armed men at Saunders Avenue, a tough community located off Mountain View Avenue in Kingston.

Saunders Avenue is an enclave loyal to the ruling People’s National Party (PNP), but it was not clear yesterday if the men engaged in yesterday’s gunfight with the police have been involved with the ongoing political clashes between supporters of the PNP and the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) in the South East St Andrew constituency.

On Monday, armed men from the JLP stronghold of Jacques Road, also in the Mountain View area, engaged the police in a gunfight in the community when the lawmen went in to patrol the area.

Yesterday, the police reported that a joint police/military team was patrolling Saunders Avenue when they surprised a group of armed men. The men opened fire and a shootout ensued, the police reported.

Officers said when the shooting died down police and soldiers searched sections of the community and found a Glock 19 pistol and 34 rounds of ammunition at a premises at 2E Saunders Avenue. A man was subsequently taken into custody for questioning.

In the meantime, the 12 men from Jacques Road and who were held in the aftermath of Monday’s gunfight with the police were all released yesterday without charge. Six others who were detained in a police operation in the nearby Jarrett Lane on Saturday have also been released.

Residents of Mountain View have been living under the gun since last week when four persons were shot and injured. There have also been reports of nightly gunfire in sections of lower Mountain View Avenue.

However, the crime chief for the Kingston East Police Division, Deputy Superintendent Michael Ellis, said the security forces would be relentless in the drive to maintain law and order in Mountain View.

“We will continue to patrol all areas and there will be frequent searches,” Ellis told the Observer yesterday.