St Elizabeth police increasing gun seizures, says commander
BLACK RIVER, St Elizabeth — Head of the St Elizabeth police Deputy Superintendent Coleridge Minto says his division has been seizing more illegal firearms in the south-central parish.
In comparing the seizures made last year against the previous year, Minto, who assumed control of the division mid-2023, said the efforts of the police in pursuing gangs have also increased.
“For 2022, 14 firearms were seized and for 2023, 33 firearms were seized. This is a more than 100 per cent increase over the previous year, [and] so far for 2024 we are at four seizures,” Minto said on Monday.
A 28-year-old man was arrested and charged in relation to the latest seizure on Saturday after he was found with a pistol.
Charged with possession of a prohibited weapon and unauthorised possession of ammunition is Nickoy Farquharson, a resident of Holt district in Santa Cruz.
“On Saturday, about 11:30am, during a vehicle checkpoint operation which was being done on the Santa Cruz Bypass, a blue Honda Civic motor car was signalled to stop and the driver complied,” Minto said.
“The driver had one male passenger in the front seat. Both men were searched and the passenger was found with a magazine containing three 9mm rounds in the front of his pants waist and a 9mm pistol found in his private area. He was arrested and charged for possession of a prohibited weapon and unauthorised possession of ammunition,” added Minto.
Also, the St Elizabeth police chief said last Friday, during a snap raid conducted in the Comma Pen area of the New Forest main road, they found 21 .32 Smith and Wesson rounds,17 12-gauge cartridges, and 30 9mm cartridges. No one was arrested in relation to those seizures.
Last week, four people were arrested during a joint Anti-gang Task Force operation in Pepper District, northern St Elizabeth, and in recent weeks cocaine and marijuana were seized in the parish.
In the meantime, a multi-agency investigation has been launched following the discovery of a burnt-out plane in the Elim/Braes River area. The plane was registered in Venezuela.
