KINGSTON, Jamaica – A firearm and 430 assorted rounds of ammunition was seized by police assigned to the National Strategic Anti-Gang Division (NSAD) and the St James Division in St James on Thursday.

Reports are that at about 2:00 pm, lawmen assigned to NSAD were conducting an operation at Fairview in Montego Bay, St James when they signalled the driver of a grey Toyota Fortuner motor truck to stop.

The driver reportedly complied, and while searching the motor vehicle, NSAD personnel found five plastic bags with ammunition on the floor behind the passenger seat. The ammunition was counted in the presence of the driver and amounted to two hundred and twenty-eight 7.62mm rounds.

The driver was taken into custody; his identity is being withheld pending further investigations.

In a simultaneous operation along Fairfield main road in the parish, a team from NSAD intercepted a white Toyota Voxy motor vehicle. The motor vehicle was reportedly searched in the presence of the driver and his passenger, and a box wrapped in duct tape was found on the floor.

Personnel from the Area One Technical Services Division, who conducted a forensic examination of the vehicle, found that the box contained two hundred 9mm rounds of ammunition.

Both persons were taken into custody; their identities are being withheld pending further investigation.

Later, about 8:30 pm, the St James Police were carrying out curfew enforcement activities in Barrett Town in the parish when they reportedly saw a group of men standing near an abandoned premises.

The men’s behaviour aroused the suspicion of the patrol team, who attempted to accost them. However, on the approach of the police, the men ran in separate directions. The area was subsequently searched, and one Browning single-action firearm with an affixed magazine containing two 9mm cartridges was found between two banana trees.

No one was arrested in relation to the seizure.