5 guns, ammo seized in Claxton Bay, St Augustine

POLICE seized five guns and a quantity of ammunition during raids in Claxton Bay and St Augustine yesterday afternoon. In the Claxton Bay raid, police held a man with three Venezuelan-made guns which had just come off a boat and were on the way to be sold. Investigators believe that the Venezuelan-made guns were part of a shipment which slipped into south Trinidad for sale on the local market. According to reports, members of the Firearms Interdiction Unit (FIU) under Asst Supt Chandraban Maharaj were on patrol in the Claxton Bay area around 2 pm when they saw a 46-year-old Cedros man with a bag.

During a search, police found a .38 revolver with nine rounds of .38  ammunition, two 12-gauge shotguns and 10 shotgun cartridges; and four rounds of nine millimetre ammunition. Investigations revealed that the man collected the bag of guns from a boat off Cedros and was on his way to sell them to another man when he was held. The suspect was taken to the Port-of-Spain CID office where he was charged. He will appear in court tomorrow. Other members of the FIU were Corporal Dookie, and Constables Samlal, Maharaj, and Simon. In St Augustine, members of the FIU carried out a raid on a house and seized two more shotguns. Police are checking the firearms to determine whether they were also part of a shipment. Investigators believe these guns were used in recent robberies.