Cops find shotgun during SoE exercise in Chatham

WITH ongoing exercises nationwide coinciding with the state of emergency (SoE), South Western Division police have removed an illegal firearm from the streets.

Police reported that at around 10.30 pm on January 2, officers got a tip-off and went to an overgrown area off Beach Road in Chatham which they searched.

About 50 feet off the road, the officers found a homemade shotgun under a sheet of galvanised and seized it. No one was arrested and PC Jaghoo is continuing enquiries.

The discovery was part of an anti-crime operation in the Point Fortin district held between 7 pm and 11 pm on January 2.

Snr Supt Thompson, Supt Cumberbatch, ASP Corrie and Insp Prescott co-ordinated the exercise, which Insp Sirju, Sgts Deonarine and Smith, acting Sgt Jaglal and acting W/Cpl Joseph were involved in.

It included officers of the Point Fortin Police Station and CID, the divisional Task Force, Cedros police and the Canine Unit.

The officers searched several places in accordance with Section 8 and Section 13 of Legal Notice 240 of the Emergency Powers Regulation 2024.

The police targeted several “priority offenders” including a 55-year-old unemployed woman, a 48-year-old deportee and a 24-year-old man. Nothing illegal was found at the homes of these offenders and no one was arrested.

On December 30, President Christine Kangaloo signed the declaration putting Trinidad and Tobago into an SoE.