Police in St. Vincent and the Grenadines are “working along with international bodies” as their investigation continues into a cache of guns and ammunition found in imported items in Kingstown last December.
The six 9mm pistols, two high-power rifles and 200 rounds of 7.62 ammunition, intercepted at the Customs Department in Kingstown represent the largest such bust in the country.
When police made the announcement at a press conference on Dec. 16, Commissioner of Police Colin John had said that one person had been arrested.
However, no one has yet been charged and he said on radio recently that one of the weapons has been traced to a crime in one of the US states.
“… and that’s as much as I am going to say at this moment, but we are conducting investigations into that matter,” John said on Boom FM.
He, however, said that most of the weapons were found in transmissions for vehicles.
“The rifle was found in a keyboard. To the best of my knowledge, none of them was found in a barrel,” he said.
The police chief said the constabulary was concerned about the attempt to import the firearms into the country.
“It is a trend that we have been seeing throughout the Caribbean, speaking to different commissioners of police and different law enforcement agencies.
“We are working right now along with the Port Authority and the Customs to have a scanner at the port,” he said.
He said that the police force is also working along with the government to re-activate a K-9 unit.
“We had some K-9s some years ago but they have expired literally and figuratively, in terms of their capacity, and then we are working towards getting these things back.”
John said the police have identified suspects in connection with the firearm, adding that someone was arrested but not charged.
“We are trying to do as thorough an investigation as possible. And, fortunately, in these matters, there is no statute of limitation in that regard,” said John, a lawyer and former deputy director of public prosecution.