Rifle seized in Flankers' Rifle Lane
Published:Monday | January 22, 2018 | 12:00 AMAdrian Frater/News Editor
WESTERN BUREAU:
The ongoing state of public emergency in St James yielded more success for the security forces yesterday, as a rifle and handgun were seized in Flankers, which was under siege prior to the latest crime-fighting initiative to quell the spate of killings, which spawned 335 murders parishwide last year.
According to reports, the guns - one AK-47 assault rifle and a .45 pistol - were found alongside 24 rounds of assorted ammunition. The rifle is the second of its type seized since the state of emergency was declared last week amid the rampant lawlessness, which spilt over into the new year.
"The guns were found in a section of the community known as Red Dirt, or more popularly as Rifle Lane," a police source told The Gleaner. "This section of the community is the home based of the Original Sparta Gang, which is locked in a feud with a breakaway faction of the gang call the Uptown Sparta."
TELL WHAT YOU KNOW
At a press conference at the Jamaica Defence Force's (JDF) Burke Barracks in Montego Bay on Saturday, Colonel Daniel Pryce, who has oversight responsibility for operations in the JDF, said a Kalashnikov rifle and six live rounds were seized in Flankers in the first 24 hours of the state of emergency.
While expressing some measure of satisfaction with the success attained so far, including the arrest of eight members of the Flankers-based Sparta Gang, who have been implicated in several murders and shootings, Pryce urged residents to support the efforts of the security forces by telling what they know about criminals and their activities.
"After the first 48 hours of the announcement of the state of emergency, we have seen encouraging results, but our operations are only as good as the intelligence that drives them, and that good intelligence is already out there in the communities," said Pryce. ""We urge persons to use the JDF tip hotline 837-8888 to call and tell us what you know about criminal activities."
Except for Saturday's incident at a funeral in Quarry, where a gangster was allegedly disarmed and killed by another thug,
St James has been quite peaceful since being placed under a state of emergency.