Policeman’s son held with pistol

THE teenaged son of a police sergeant was arrested in San Juan on Tuesday night by North-Eastern Division police who searched him and found a loaded Italian-made pistol, believed to have been stolen from the home of a businessman.

The teen and two other men, who were held in a car, were to have gone on ID parades yesterday. The Tuesday night raids were the latest in an on-going exercise ordered by North-Eastern Division Head, Snr Supt Desmond Lambert, aimed at clamping down on gangland activities in the Morvant and San Juan areas. The officers involved in the raids, in which the policeman’s son was held with the pistol, were from Morvant CID and North-Eastern Division Task Force. According to reports, around 11pm, PCs Russel Maraj, Sunil Ramoutar and Liston Taylor were on patrol along Laventille Road, San Juan when they spotted a burgundy Mitsubishi Lancer parked on the side of the road.

On seeing the approaching police vehicle, three men in the car ducked in an effort to hide from the officers. The suspicious officers ordered the men out of the vehicle. They were searched and the policeman’s 18-year-old son, who was seated in the back of the car, was found with a Pietro Beretta .320 semi-automatic pistol which was loaded with 11 rounds of ammunition. The pistol has a modified barrel which can accommodate a silencer. The teen, who lives at First Street, San Juan, was arrested along with his two friends and taken to the Barataria Police Station where they were questioned. PC Russel Maraj is expected to charge the teen with possession of arms and ammunition and he is expected to appear before a Port-of-Spain magistrate today. Meanwhile, police are trying to trace the pistol to its owner via the serial number. The pistol is believed to have belonged to a businessman whose home was broken into some months ago.