Jamaica Police arrests 6 in possession of firearms

Jamaica: The Police authorities in Westmoreland, Jamaica, has arrested 6 individuals and seized 4 firearms in three different incidents across the parish between Friday evening and Saturday afternoon.

In the first incident, the police authorities detained and charged – 23-year-old – Akeem Clarke after a Kel-Tec ‘9mm pistol & a magazine containing ten 9mm rounds were seized during a joint police and military patrol. The Police report states that around 8:00 pm on Friday, the team held and examined Clarke & a 16-year-old male who were both walking along the Hudson Street.

The accused was then charged with illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition. At the same time, the juvenile was taken into custody to call in his parents and give a warning.

While in the second incident, the Police authorities detained a man who is on bail for the offence of murder with reporting conditions and were charged with illegal possession of a firearm & the ammunition after a black and silver 9mm pistol with a cartridge containing 15 – 9mm rounds were found in his waistband.

The report by the Police officials states that around 3:00 pm on Saturday, joint police or military patrol stopped and searched the accused, who is a 21-year-old Garth Spence of a Westmoreland and another man who was walking along Darling St in Savanna la Mar.

Besides this, in the third incident that happened in Grange Hill around 3:00 pm on the same day, in which 3 men, including a juvenile, were arrested & charged with illegal possession of a ‘firearm’ & being in possession of an attacking weapon. The police were responding to an attempted robbery report in the area when they found three men walking along the roadway, which was then stopped and searched by them.

Two homemade firearms were found respectively in the waistband of a 17-year-old and 19-year-old – Tyrone Cardwell of Mint Road, Grange Hill. A machete was also being discovered in the waistband of the third man, who has been identified as – 18-year-old – Mario Smith.

Cardwell and the other juvenile were charged with – illegal possession of firearms, while Smith was charged with – owning an offensive weapon.

Deputy Superintendent of Police – Adrian Hamilton, who is the officer in charge of operations for the Westmoreland police division, cited that the latest seizures can be connected to increased – operational, investigative and intelligence focus activities with stress on stop and search, particularly in crime hotspots across the parish which has seen a massive rise in criminal activities in the past weeks.