For the second time in a little over two weeks, North Eastern Division Police recovered seven illegal guns yesterday during a six hour anti-crime exercise.Three of the guns were recovered in Mon Repos, Morvant, close to the scene where 27-year-old resident Phillip Hillaire was shot dead hours before on Tuesday night.
According to reports, around midday on Wednesday, officers of the North Eastern Division Task Force (NEDTF), led by Sgt Cornelius Samuel and Cpl Sunil Bharath, received information that the illegal weapons were hidden near the scene of Hillaire's murder.
The area was searched and the guns–a revolver and two pistols–were found hidden in a bamboo patch. Investigators said the weapons were poorly hidden and were sent to the Forensic Science Centre, St James, for ballistic testing to determine if they were the ones used in Hillaire's murder, as his killers might have disposed of it after shooting him several times around 10.30 pm on Tuesday.
The team of officers then went to Pelican Extension, Morvant, where they recovered a pump-action shotgun and two pistols, which were hidden a bushy area off the road.They then went to the home of a elderly couple at Jaggan Village, Santa Cruz, where they found a homemade gun hidden under the house.The couple was not arrested as investigators believe the gun belongs to a gang in the community and was possibly hidden there without the knowledge of the couple.
On January 13, the same group of officers conducted a similar exercise in Morvant and Barataria and seized seven guns, a large cache of ammunition and arrested two men.While no one was arrested during yesterday's exercise, police said that they expect to make several arrests in connection with drug and gang activity in the division."We know who you are. We will hunt you down," Insp Roger Alexander, head of the NEDTF, said in a telephone interview after yesterday's exercise.
PCs Clint Dass, Brandon Thompson, Marvin Forde, Steven Johnson, Jerome Gordon and Andell Celestine were also involved in the exercise.