RAMBLE HILL, St James — The security forces have recovered nine illegal firearms, including four high-powered M-16 rifles, at two separate locations in the parish on Friday, a mere four days inside the extended State of Public Emergency (SOPE) in St James.

The ninth weapon was recovered in the same area yesterday, bringing to 41, the number of illegal guns recovered in St James since the SOPE was declared in the parish. Of that number, 14 are high-powered rifles.

The anti-crime measure was introduced on Thursday, January 18, under a proclamation issued by the governor general and then extended after the first 14 days, as required by the Jamaican Constitution. That extension expired on Wednesday, May 2.

The Senate passed the Emergency Powers resolution to extend the current SOPE in St James by another 90 days when it met at Gordon House on Friday.

The Senate meeting followed Wednesday night’s passage of the resolution, the Emergency Powers (Continuance) (No 2) Resolution, 2018, under which the Government is seeking to extend the SOPE to August 2, 2018.

Meanwhile, during operations at two separate locations in the Ramble Hill section of the parish on Friday, the security forces firstly recovered four M-16 rifles, ballistic vests, 156 rounds of assorted ammunition, among other contraband.

According to commanding officer for the SOPE in St James, ACP Ealan Powell, members of the security forces carried out an operation in Ramble Hill where several premises were searched. The weapons were found hidden under stones in bushes behind one of the premises.

“This (Friday) morning, about 10:00 am the police commenced an operation in Ramble Hill, Bogue, St James. We searched a number of premises [and] on one premises we found four M-16 rifles, two of which seem to be very brand new. We also found 156 rounds of ammunition and six magazines, one of them a very peculiar magazine which holds 45 rounds of 5.56 cartridges.

“We also found cleaning equipment for these rifles and four bullet proof vests, one of which clearly was marked by the persons who own these weapons,” ACP Powell disclosed.

“This is, I think, a very important find. This is a significant dent in gang activities and gun violence in St James,” Powell went on.

He lauded the members of the security forces who he said diligently scoured the area and came up with the find.

“I want to commend the officers for the very diligent way in which they carried out their duty to find these guns. These guns were found under rocks, well hidden, and if it was not for the thoroughness of the officers we wouldn’t have found them. So I want to give credit to the officers,” the senior cop said.

Hours after the rifle find, the security forces reaped additional success when four handguns and a number of assorted rounds of ammunition were also found in the area.

Yesterday, the security forces, which continued to comb the area, found an additional handgun and a number of assorted rounds of ammunition.

No one has so far been arrested in connection with the seizure of the weapons.

“It’s part of a regular SOE operations. We have been targeting a number of areas. We move from area to area, we search diligently, [and] sometimes we find nothing, sometimes we find a lot,” the ACP said.