Cops seize more guns, say ‘Operation Hotspot’ working

OFFICERS of the Western Division Task Force were high in praise for the creation of “Operation Hotspot,” a vision of Police Commissioner Trevor Paul, which has so far yielded seven illegal guns and caches of ammunition in the last six weeks in the division. On Monday night, three men were held in Cocorite with a 9 mm pistol, three rounds of 9mm ammunition and a shotgun.

According to reports, PCs Harris, Thomas and WPC Davidson, led by PC Juman, were on patrol along the Diego Martin Highway near the Four Roads traffic lights around 9 pm, when they spotted a car on which they had information. They kept the car under surveillance as it turned south, then east along the Western Main Road. Police intercepted the car near the Community Hospital, Cocorite. A search of the three occupants, ages 20, 30 and 45, two from Cocorite and the other from Jackson Place in Laventille, netted the illegal arms and ammunition.

Since the recall to duty of all vacationing officers in mid-August, the police chief has mandated most of the incoming officers and several of the others on regular duty to concentrate their resources on crime “hotspots.” Reports from the Organised Crime and Narcotics Unit, the Firearms Interdiction Unit and the Inter-Agency Task Force, revealed there had been a marked increase in the detection of illegal arms, ammunition and drugs. While there has been a drop in minor crimes, murders continue to increase, however. A senior police administrator said the public will see the results of the initiative to reduce murders in TT “very soon.”