BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - RANKS of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force have removed another illegal firearm and a quantity of ammunition from a home in Cardin Avenue on Friday (Sept. 2).
According to a statement from the Police Force, a search conducted on a premises at Cardin Avenue had unearthed a .45 Pistol and a magazine with five matching rounds of ammunition.
The police, however, neither stated what prompted them to executive the search nor if they were tipped off that an illegal weapon was at the location.
The firearm, magazine and ammunition were taken into custody along with an individual who lives on the premises.
For this year, the police have removed eight illegal firearms off the streets of the Federation.
Concerns were expressed on numerous occasions as to the means by which firearms are entering the Federation, knowing that they are not being manufactured in the region but shipped from overseas.
At the recently held 36th Conference of the Caribbean Commissioners of Police ins Nassau, Bahamas, the territory’s Prime Minister, Phillip Davis, criticised the United States and urged its leaders to do more to stop the flow of firearms from the US to the region.
While addressing the Commissioners, Davis pointed out that his Police Force had linked guns to an individual in the US who had purchased 40 firearms.
“Illicit guns basically end up in the hands of criminals contributing to a high number of gun-related injuries and deaths. More than 90 percent of guns confiscated are used as murder weapons in The Bahamas, can be traced back to American manufacturers and gun shops,” the PM lamented.
Earlier this year, a similar point was raised by Commissioner of Police Hilroy Brandy, who disclosed that they had found weapons linked to the United Kingdom.
But Davis, in speaking with senior US officials, believes that some changes would be made to prevent the smuggling of weapons out of the US to the Caribbean where gun crimes plague small islands.
In St. Kitts for 2021, there were two shootings with intent.
