A Jamaican man was on Thursday brought before the Serious Offences Court in Kingstown, charged with possession of a prohibited weapon and 60 rounds of 5.56 ammunition, both of which are prohibited in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Linford George Robinson, 39, of Kingston, pleaded guilty to a charge that on Feb. 9, at Gibson Corner, he had in his possession one Zaviar AR-15 rifle, serial number ZZ 190-797, a prohibited weapon, without the authorisation of the minister.
Robinson, whose local address is Gibson Corner, also pleaded guilty to a charge that on the same date, also at Gibson Corner, he had in his possession 60 rounds of 5.56 ammunition without the authorisation of the minister.
The prosecution asked that the matter be adjourned to tomorrow (Friday) for the hearing of the facts and sentencing.
Robinson’s lawyer, Grant Connell, did not object to the application.
iWitness News was reliably informed that Robinson arrived in SVG on Sept. 19, 2020 on board a Caribbean Airlines flight from Jamaica.
Well-placed sources have told iWitness News that Robinson was arrested as police continue a two-year on-going investigation into the alleged activity of a suspected “hit man” in SVG.
This publication knows of no allegation that Robinson was involved in the killing or attempted killing of anyone and no such charge has been brought against him.
Police said in a statement on Thursday that acting on information, a party of officers were dispatched on mobile patrol duty about central division in search of a motor vehicle, which was allegedly occupied by three males.
The vehicle in question was spotted in Rillan Hill heading in the direction of Kingstown.
The officers followed the vehicle and ordered it to stop at the Questelles Police Station.
The officers approached the vehicle and the officer in-charge of the operation identified members of the party to the suspects.
The three suspects were identified as Erasto Nero, of Edinboro, Eric Conliffe, of Kingstown Park, and Linford George Robinson, of Jamaica/Gibson Corner.
The men were invited to exit the vehicle and a search was carried out on the men but nothing illegal was found.
A search was then carried out on the vehicle and a transparent plastic bag with a black plastic bag on the inside, containing what appeared to be plant materials resembling cannabis was found.
All three suspects were cautioned and Nero told police officers that the contents in plastic bag belonged to him.
The offence of possession of controlled drugs was pointed out to him and he was arrested.
The two other suspects were “arrested on suspicion”, police siad.
All three men later accompanied the party of officers to an apartment located in Gibson’s Corner, which Robinson occupied.
A search was conducted at the apartment and one AR-15 rifle and 60 rounds of 5.56mm prohibited ammunition were found under the suspect’s bed.
He was cautioned and admitted that the firearm and ammunition belonged to him.
The offences of possession of unlicensed firearm and ammunition were pointed out to him and he was arrested.
Also on Thursday, at the Serious Offence Court, Nero pleaded guilty to possession of the drug and was fined EC$930, to be paid forthwith, or three months in prison.
He paid the fine.
AR-15s are used for hunting, target practice and shooting competitions. The AR-15-style weapons are semiautomatic, the shooter must pull the trigger to fire each shot from a magazine that often holds 30 rounds. The gun by modern standards is old fashioned first made in 1950, but still sold in the US.
An assault rifle is an intermediate caliber rifle, capable of fully automatic fire. Unlike a sniper rifle is which typically a bolt action rifle. Sniper rifles are set up to be used off of a supported position, often they will have a bipod attached and a telescopic site. This is neither an assault weapon or a sniper rifle.
I believe these two men are actors brought here to whip up sympathy by someone within government.
Education time! You were correct up to the ending of the first paragraph. It is not a pistol as you claim it to be. An AR-15 is a semi-automatic assault rifle. Rightly said – it is not a sniper rifle (but can be modified to be used as such), not a machine gun, not sub-machine gun and surely not a pistol.
The absence of the butt on the weapon in the photo is because it was removed. The butt is supposed to fit over that extended section at the back of the rifle which houses the buffer spring.
Don’t be trying to ridicule the police for their identification of the weapon when you don’t know sh!t.
This is not even the rifle version it is the colt pistol version, notice the stock is not made to be shouldered.
To describe this as an assassins gun is quite simply rubbish.
This not a high powered rifle, because it is a pistol. What would be a shoulder butt or stock is a hand steadier instead.
Over dramatization may get this man convicted of the wrong crime.
The magistrate may even think he is an assassin due to the weapon, the weapon with the wrong description, wrongly identified through fire arm ignorance by SVG police.
Also how come he was manicaled whilst the Vincentian was not?