Police seize guns, drugs in multiple operations

Police arrested three men and seized two guns, assorted ammunition and drugs in separate crime fighting exercises across the country over the past 72 hours.

A media release on Sunday said operations were conducted in the Northern, Southern, North-Eastern and Port of Spain Divisions.

Two men were arrested during an operation by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF). Around 6:10 pm on Saturday, officers went to a St. Paul Street apartment of a “person of interest” and found a white plastic bag containing 292 grammes of cannabis in clear packets. A 51-year-old man was arrested and later charged.

Around 7 pm, officers went to a “known drug block” on Persad Lane, El Socorro, and arrested a 25-year-old man found with 85.6 grammes of cannabis in a pouch strapped across his chest. Officers also searched a Todd’s Road, El Socorro home of another “person of interest”, seizing 11 packets of cannabis weighing approximately 5,387 grammes pending further investigations.

During a roadblock between 2 pm and 8 pm on Friday in San Juan, officers found a black plastic bag with two packets of cannabis weighing two kilogrammes in an open lot along First Street. That same day, IATF officers with the Canine Unit searched an abandoned apartment on Nelson Street, Port of Spain, and found 354 grammes of cannabis hidden under the flooring.

In a separate exercise, police acting on a tip went to Caura Royal Road, Tunapuna, where a silver Toyota Fielder was found off the roadway near a precipice. The vehicle had been reported stolen from Valencia on August 19.

A third man, 55, was arrested at his Kelly Village, Caroni home. Police said they found a black Beretta 9-millimetre pistol, ten rounds of 9-millimetre ammunition, 40 rounds of 5.56 ammunition, and a brown package containing 158 grammes of cannabis hidden in a secret compartment in a bathroom cabinet.

Additionally, officers of the Northern Division searched an open field along Margret Cipriani Road, Kelly Village, between 3 pm and 7 pm on Friday, discovering a clear plastic bag containing 4.7 grammes of cocaine and three clear plastic bags containing 314 grammes of cannabis.

In the Southern Division, police conducted an anti-crime operation along Lance Mitan Road, Moruga, between 6:30 am and 3 pm on Saturday. Officers searched pirogues, vehicles, and pedestrians along a riverbank, seizing a 12-gauge shotgun with one round of ammunition.