A San Fernando man, who was discharged from the Coast Guard three years ago, was arrested by police after he was caught in possession of a firearm and an estimated $10,000 worth of marijuana yesterday.
Police said the 32-year-old suspect was under surveillance for some weeks. Around 5 am, officers from the Marabella and Mon Repos’ Criminal Investigation Departments, led by Cpl Burke and Cpl Mohammed, swooped down at a house along Robinson Street, Mon Repos, where the suspect was staying.
They found a Glock 19 pistol with 23 rounds of 9 mm ammunition and 297 grammes of high-grade marijuana.
He was arrested and taken to the Mon Repos Police Station where he was being questioned. Checks on his criminal record showed that he had previous convictions for marijuana possession in 2010, 2011 and 2012. The seizure of the gun brought the tally of firearms recovered by Southern Division police to 103 along with over 1,000 rounds of ammunition. In 2016, the Southern Division recovered 170 firearms.
During the same exercise, the officers held a 26-year-old Marabella man, who was wanted on outstanding warrants for firearm-related offences.
The suspect, who was held at his home around 5 am, was being questioned in relation to recent shootings in the Marabella area. The seizure came a day after police recovered nine firearms, including a Russian made assault rifle, a Remington rifle, an Uzi sub-machine gun, six pistols and over 800 rounds of assorted ammunition in Milton Village, Couva.
The cache was found in a bushy area and one suspect was detained.