Soca artiste held with gun on PBR

A popular soca artiste will appear before a Tunapuna magistrate to answer charges of possession of arms and ammunition. According to reports, the 36-year-old artiste, who hails from the Morvant area, was with another man when the car in which they were travelling was stopped during a roadblock exercise on the Priority Bus Route on Wednesday night. Reports state that Sgt Ramchoon of the St Joseph Police Station was coordinating a roadblock exercise just outside the St Joseph Police Station on the Priority Bus Route at about 10.30 pm on Wednesday night. He had just issued ticket number 19, when the officers on duty stopped a white B14 Sentra car.

The officers observed that when the car stopped, one of the two occupants in the vehicle threw something out of the car.  On investigating, the officers found plant-like material wrapped in paper. The two men were ordered out of the car, and the officers searched the vehicle. According to reports, one man who was sitting in the back seat kept dipping into his pocket. The man was told to put his hands on top of the vehicle, after which the officers searched him. The officers discovered a .38 revolver with eight rounds of ammunition in the man’s pocket during the search.

When the officers made the discovery, the man attempted to run away but was subsequently held. Asked what was the reason for the firearm, the man explained that someone had threatened his life and that he was on his way to carry the firearm for his lawyer, who lived in St Augustine. The officers dismissed the man’s explanation, however, and took him and the driver of the vehicle to the St Joseph Police Station where they were both interrogated and charged for the offences. The Soca artiste was charged for possession of arms and ammunition and resisting arrest while the driver was issued a ticket for illegal use of the Priority Bus Route. The plant-like material will be taken to Forensic Science Centre, where it will be tested. Charges were laid by Detective Constable Maxwell Bain of the St Joseph Police Station.