HEAD of the St Thomas police Superintendent Michael Campbell is satisfied that crime in the parish is not being fuelled by gangsters, as in the case for many other areas in Jamaica, but he is still concerned about the 15 murders committed in the parish so far this year.

The 15 murders are one more over than the parish recorded over the same period in 2024 and Campbell and his team are determined to see a reduction.

“Naturally we are having murders and we are losing lives and we are concerned about that. Guns are not used in the commission of some of these murders but we are still concerned as to how they are happening and where they are happening. We continue to engage the communities as best as possible to get them on board to assist the police but we don’t have any major gang issues across the parish,” Campbell told the Jamaica Observer on Sunday.

“What we continue to do is encourage the citizens to support the police. We appeal to them to share information so we can continue to confiscate these prohibited weapons across the parish but there are no gang activities to cause the residents of St Thomas to be concerned really,” added Campbell.

His comments came after two operations by police in the parish over the weekend resulted in the seizure of two firearms, including an assault rifle and 30 assorted rounds of ammunition.

In the first incident, about 9:25 Friday morning, members of a police team were in Lyssons when a premises that was occupied by a 78-year-old man was searched.

A magazine with 16 9-mm rounds of ammunition was found inside a printer in a bedroom. The elderly man was taken into custody.

His identity is being withheld pending further investigations.

In the other incident in Morant Bay, around 10:30 pm on Saturday cops signalled the driver of a Honda CRV motor car to stop. The driver complied and the vehicle was searched.

During the search, an AM-15 multi-calibre rifle, with two magazines — one containing nine 5.56 rounds of ammunition — a Taurus 9mm pistol with a magazine containing four 9mm rounds of ammunition, and one .22 round of ammunition were found inside the vehicle.

The driver was taken into custody. His identity is also being withheld pending further investigations.