Security experts have lauded the police for the large weapons cache they discovered in Santa Cruz on Wednesday, but said much more needs to be done to address the importation of illegal weapons.
The police found 13 firearms, including two AK-47 rifles, two Draco rifles, an M-16 rifle, two UZI sub-machine guns, a Beretta sub-machine gun, a Ruger 30-calibre rifle and a Ruger Precision 50-calibre rifle. The seizure also included 1,152 rounds of assorted ammunition: 45 mm, 50-calibre, 12-gauge, 7.62 mm, 9 mm and 6.5-calibre armour-piercing ammunition.
Several major firearm component parts were also seized, including ten laser pointers, 23 rifle stocks, 53 trigger guards, 13 selectors, 15 triggers, four rear sights and four buffers, as they investigated a shooting incident which had occurred hours earlier. No one was arrested in connection with the seizure.
Snr Supt Roger Alexander told Newsday on Saturday, “Due to the circumstances at the time, no one could be arrested. No one was present at the time when the weapons were recovered. The investigation is an active, ongoing one.”
Former chief of defence staff retired Maj Gen Ralph Brown said he agreed with the Prime Minister that the weapons could pose a possible threat to national security.
“I have been in the military for 34 years and I’ve retired about 23 years, and that arms cache was probably the most I’ve ever seen in TT, and the type of weapons – 50-calibre weapons and armour-piercing ammunition – that is a very serious matter, we’re heading into very serious matters.
“I don’t think the threat to the government is all that real.
"In 1990, (Jamaat al Muslimeen leader Yasin) Abu Bakr had 114 men with him and all of them had rifles. There are people in this country who might think of doing such a thing.
"The thing is getting out of hand and I think the government is moving in the right direction. While it might be a threat to the state, the army can handle that, together with the police, of course.”
Brown said countering the weapons threat meant depending on intelligence gathered by the state and people who know about illegal weapons reporting them to the authorities.
[caption id="attachment_1040220" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Police Commissioner Erla Harewood-Christopher, right, and other police officials examine weapons found and siezed earlier that day during an exercise in Santa Cruz on Wednesday. - TTPS[/caption]
Former police commissioner Gary Griffith said he welcomed the find as it seemed to have made the PM more aware of the threat posed by these weapons.
“Police seize 800-1,000 illegal firearms annually, that’s about 16,000 we would have seized for the last two decades, and still there are tens of thousands left outside.
"He seemed not to understand that 99 per cent-plus of the murders in the last three years have been by illegal firearms, and he has done nothing to rectify the situation.”
Griffith said he recommended several measures to the PM to fight illegal firearms, including acquiring mobile scanners, drones and the fo
