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Thirteen guns seized in 14 days in St James

Published:Saturday | June 13, 2020 | 12:16 AMAdrian Frater/News Editor

Western Bureau:

WITH 13 illegal firearms and more than 200 rounds of assorted ammunition seized in the past week, it appears that the St James police have made a breakthrough in their quest to blunt the rampant lawlessness that has been plaguing the parish.

“We have been putting in some good work and we are getting good results in terms of the seizure of illegal firearms and the arrest of some of the criminals who have been involved in criminal activities across the parish,” said Superintendent Vernon Ellis, the commanding officer for the parish. “Because of the pressure we have been putting on them, some of the gangsters have fled the parish.”

Some of the weapons seized in police operations in volatile communities such as Norwood, Barrett Town, Granville, Barracks Road and Glendevon ranged from old to fairly new, including four rifles and handguns of varying styles and brands.

Within recent years, St James has become a hotbed of rampant criminality, driven by the illicit lottery scam, which has become entwined with the parish’s long-standing gang culture. Since 2006, when the lottery scam became pervasive in St James, the parish has seen in excess of 100 murders every year, including the record 335 in 2017.

Over the years, several policing measures have been put in place to contain the violence in St James, including the zone of special operations in Mt Salem and two separate states of public emergency. However, the criminals, empowered by the wealth gained from scamming, have remained a threat to law and order.

However, buoyed by the success being enjoyed at this time, which sees the current murder count at 47, Ellis is cautiously optimistic that the 100-plus murder cycle will be broken this year.