12 months in Jail for street vendor who tried to hide gun in sock

A MAN who attempted to hide a gun with two rounds of ammunition inside a sock was today sentenced to 12 months in jail. On seeing Princes Town police yesterday, Brian Rooplal, 22, went into a house and threw the black and white sock out a window. Police found the gun at the back of the house which contained the weapon.

Rooplal appeared before Michelle Maharajh-Brown in the Princes Town Magistrates’ Court and pleaded guilty to both charges. Court prosecutor Sgt Shazeed Mohammed said that PC Clarence and other police officers were on mobile patrol along Buen Intento Road, Princes Town where they saw a group of men standing at the roadside at about 4.30 pm.

As the police approached the men, Rooplal quickly walked away and went into a nearby house at Glenroy Settlement. He threw the sock through a window which police later found. In it was a gun loaded with three rounds of .38 ammunition.

Rooplal, a street vendor, told the magistrate that people tried to rob him "a few times" and he bought the gun for safety. Rooplal claimed he was in Port of Spain two months ago when a man sold him the gun for $700.

Rooplal, who spoke with an American accent, said when he was about eight he went to the US to live with his mother. But she died last year and due to financial difficulties, he returned home to Trinidad.

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"12 months in Jail for street vendor who tried to hide gun in sock"

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