MAY PEN, Clarendon – One sub-machine-gun, four pistols and several rounds of ammunition were seized Wednesday during an early-morning raid in Oliver Gardens, Clarendon. Two men were taken into custody during the operation spearheaded by the Counter-Terrorism and Organised Crime Investigation Branch (C-TOC).

According to police sources, a black and chrome intro tech sub-machine gun with a magazine containing seven 9mm rounds plus a plastic bottle containing 27 .380 rounds were seized at one location. A farmer in his 20s was taken into custody in connection with those items. An electrician in his late 20s was arrested at a second location where items seized included a 9mm pistol of undetermined make and model with a magazine containing four 9mm rounds, a Sig Sauer 9mm pistol with a magazine containing 10 9mm rounds, a minigap 8mm pistol with a magazine containing 10 8mm rounds, one Sig 9mm magazine and 10 additional 8mm rounds.

Speaking with the Jamaica Observer at the scene, Superintendent Carlos Russell, who heads the Clarendon Division, said the joint police/military raid was part of continued efforts to “rid the space of gangs and guns” and take the fight to those who have been making threats.

“In recent times we have been having incidents that have been spreading to other parishes in Area 3 and we are also aware of some threats that have gone out against police officers and other civilians. So we have targeted those criminals that we believe are involved and those operations led us here,” he said.

He explained that the community of Farm, which includes Oliver Gardens, has a history of frequent flare-ups and murders.

“For 2023 the work that we would have put in targeting the gangsters paid off and so we did not have any murders in the community last year. But we know that the guns are still here. We want to find the guns and we will continue the targeted operations to get the guns that are here,” Russell vowed.