Bullets&Blood

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• • gleanerjamaica • jamaicagleaner • BULLETS & BLOOD THE GLEANER, TUESDAY, JULY 5, 2016 D2
THE
PROLIFERATION of pistols
remainS a challenge for policemen who
continue to fight a rash of crimes across the
island, particularly in St James, Clarendon and
Westmoreland where lottery scammers run amok.
Head of the Criminal Investigation Branch, Assistant
Commissioner of Police Ealan Powell, said that of the 420 illegal
weapons taken off the streets between September 2015 and May 2016,
271 were pistols while 54 rifles were seized.
“You can carry around a handgun easily, especially a revolver or a pistol.
You can carry it in your waist; people carry it in them crotch and in knap-
sacks,” Powell explained to The Gleaner recently. “Some of these are very small
and very handy and very easily disguised. People hide these in places which are
very difficult to find.”
According to the assistant commissioner, mostly 9mm pistols are recovered, but
M16s topped the list of assault rifles seized, with AK-47 assault rifles coming in
second.
The St James Police Division accounted for the most guns seized since
September last year at 74. It is followed by St Andrew South, at 34, St
Catherine South at 31, Kingston Western at 29 and Westmoreland at 28.
St James also accounted for most of the guns seized since January at
39. It is followed by St Catherine North at 25, St Andrew South at
25, Clarendon on 16, and St Catherine South and
Westmoreland with 15 guns each.
Meanwhile, the police seized some 5,792 assorted
rounds of ammunition since last September. A
total of 3,805 of those were taken off the
streets since January.
‘YOU CAN CARRY
AROUND A HANDGUN
EASILY, ESPECIALLY A
REVOLVER OR A PISTOL’
74
34 31 29 28
Top 5 divisions for gun recovery
since September 2015
St JamesSt Andrew SouthSt Catherine SouthKingston WesternWestmoreland
FILE
Above: In this January 2007 photograph,
Inspector Lenox Harper of the Hunts Bay Police
Station holds a home-made shotgun that was
taken from a 16-year-old schoolboy.
At top left: A 2016 recovery.
492 461
January 1-June 4, 2016
murders shootings