BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE two individuals whom members of the Special Services Unit (SSU) had allegedly found with a total of 105 rounds of ammunition and an illegal firearm over the last weekend, were formally arrested and charged with the offences.
According to a police communiqué, Jonell Merritt of Carifesta Village was charged with the offences of possession of firearm and possession of ammunition.
He was allegedly found with 98 rounds of ammunition during the execution of a search warrant on his Carifesta Village home.
The second person charged was Lebron Walters of Olando Drive in Frigate Bay. He was charged with possession of firearm and possession of ammunition following the discovery and seizure of a Taurus 9mm Pistol with seven matching rounds.
Walters was granted bail in the sum of $20,000 and under the conditions of surrendering all travel documents and reporting to the Basseterre Police Station every Friday between 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.
He was also ordered to appearance in court on Monday, June 12, 2017.
On the night of Friday (May 19), members of the SSU had searched Merritt’s residence and found 98 rounds of 9mm ammunition.
Four persons were reportedly at the residence at the time but only one of them was taken into custody along with the ammunition.
A communiqué had stated that follow-up investigations led the officers to the Frigate Bay area, where one Taurus 9mm Pistol with seven matching rounds were discovered in a clump of bushes.
Three persons were taken into custody but two of them were subsequently released without any charges.
The pistol and ammunition were reportedly discovered at about 2:00 a.m. on Saturday (May 20) and, from all indicators, the two incidents are related.
That find had taken to nine the number of illegal firearms removed from the Federation’s streets for this month and the 22nd for the year.
