Rifles, ammo bagged at city home
Man arrested, woman wanted
Stabroek News
December 3, 2003
The police have arrested one person and launched a hunt for a woman following the discovery of a bag of arms and ammunition at a city house yesterday.
Reports reaching Stabroek News state that the woman works with a charitable group. However, she fled before police swooped on the Lamaha Street, Newtown premises.
A release from the force's Public Relations Office stated that at about 12:45 hours, the police conducted a search at a home in Georgetown and found a bag containing two rifles with three magazines and 52 matching rounds of ammunition. A black holster, with belt and magazine pouch were also found.
Information reaching this newspaper said that prior to the raid, the woman had told someone that a man had given her the bag to keep. The discovery of the high-powered weapons is the third such incident in recent times. A few months ago, the police intercepted a vehicle with a suitcase of arms in the trunk, and arrested three persons, including the sister of a wanted man. Several persons were subsequently charged and placed before the court. Information released at that time stated that the arms were being shipped to an East Coast Demerara village.
Exactly a year ago, members of the Guyana Defence Force intercepted a bullet-proof pickup at Good Hope, East Coast Demerara, with two assault rifles fitted with telescopic lenses, a 12-gauge pump-action rifle, a Uzi submachine gun, two Glock pistols as well as other handguns, a laptop computer capable of intercepting cellular calls and a plan of the city, two bullet-proof vests, two camouflage caps and two helmets as well as a large quantity of ammunition of varying calibre.
Three men were arrested and charged, but freed earlier this year of the unlawful possession charges. However, the police have retained possession of those weapons, saying that they were illegally obtained.
The accessories and the bulletproof vehicle were subsequently released. The police had earlier told Stabroek News that they have no clue as to the whereabouts of the laptop computer, and that it was never lodged at the Criminal Investigation Department.
(Kim Lucas)