Guns - the criminals’ weapon of choice

“That is why we are encouraging communities to partner with us to get rid of illegal firearms,” he said noting that the firearms were causing havoc in communities. Homicides for this year was 88 compared to 50 in 2015, he said. Recently several persons, he said, were arrested for robberies in which a number of firearms were recovered, and it was alarming to note that their ages were between 18 and 20.

Asked why these young men were attracted to that type of lifestyle, he said, “I don’t have any information as to that.” As of yesterday, Rajkumar said that with the help of people in the division, the police recovered 95 firearms compared to 74 in 2015 for the same period. They have also recovered over 2,000 rounds of ammunition.

The firearms recovered, he said, include AK 47s, high-powered rifles, pistols and other automatic weapons.

In the Arouca district, he said they also had a recent seizure of camouflaged uniforms, rifle scope and other equipment that criminal elements were using.

The number of persons - mainly young people - arrested and charged to date for various offences, he said, were 2,005. For the year over 1,870 warrants were executed and over 1,500 persons were arrested.

In addition, he said that over 205 persons were arrested for driving under the influence. He urged communities, religious groups and civil society to encourage young people to join police youth clubs or get involved in other meaningful activities to “get them out of this criminal life they are in” and so make the Northern Division a safer place.