The police reported on Sunday that it arrested four people in St James under its just-launched Operation Relentless II in connection with the seizure of two firearms on Saturday. Among the four are two women in their 20s.

The find and arrests come on the heels of the passage of the Firearms (Prohibition, Restriction and Regulation) Act 2022 in the Senate on Friday, which paves the way for a laundry list of offences related to illegal firearms, punishable by tough penalties and sentences, including mandatory life sentences for certain breaches, with eligibility for parole only after 20 years.

Those arrested in St James are 26-year-old Omario Henry of Grenada Courts; 21-year-old Britney-Ann Malcolm, a customer service representative of Marcus Garvey Avenue, Rose Heights; 31-year-old Errol Downer, a mason of Cassava Walk in Albion; and 25-year-old Allisia Hart, an entrepreneur of Cassava Walk in Albion, all in the parish. The four are to appear in the Western Regional Gun Court.

The police’s Corporate Communications Unit (CCU) says Henry and Malcolm were arrested when joint police-military teams and the St James operational support team conducted an operation at Grenada Courts in the parish, where during a search of the premises they discovered a Taurus pistol and a magazine containing 10 rounds of ammunition in a closet.

Meanwhile, Downer and Hart are charged in relation to the seizure of a Browning single-action pistol loaded with 19 nine millimetre rounds of ammunition. The police say the items were found hidden behind a washing machine in a room of their house on Saturday afternoon.

The police launched Operation Relentless II in partnership with the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) on Friday to target gangs and gangsters involved in violent crimes or other aspects of the illicit gun trade, with a focus on the police divisions with the highest levels of violent crimes. Associated lottery scamming and narcotics activities are also being targeted as a funding source for gun-running and related offences.