ST ELIZABETH, Jamaica — A 27-year-old St Elizabeth man has been arrested following the seizure of an illegal firearm during a traffic stop in the parish on Tuesday.

Head of the St Elizabeth police Superintendent Kenneth Chin told OBSERVER ONLINE that the man, who is from Santa Cruz, is a bar owner.

Chin said the seizure was made about 1:00 pm when a police team was carrying out a vehicle checkpoint operation on the Oxford main road in search of illegal firearms and wanted people.

“During the operation a white Toyota Corolla was stopped and searched and one 9mm pistol with a magazine containing eight rounds was found. A 27-year-old old bar owner from Santa Cruz was arrested in connection with the find,” said Chin.

“I thank the teams who are making the best use of the limited resources in maintaining the operational outputs which are reaping success. The parish is safer because of your effective police presence. I must also highlight the police-citizen relationship in the parish which has resulted in several successes to include a 200 per cent increase in the number of illegal firearms taken out of the hands of criminals when compared to last year.”