radhica.sookraj@guardian.co.tt
Three men suspected to be behind a spate of recent crime in the Rio Claro district have been arrested and charged.
The suspects, aged 35 and 43 from Moruga and a third man, aged 24 with addressees in Siparia and Enid Village, Rio Claro, were nabbed around 8.30 pm at Libertville in Rio Claro on Saturday, after being found with a gun and ammunition in a car.
Acting Commissioner of Police Mc Donald Jacob, in a TTPS statement, said recent crimes in the area were a cause for concern.
He said fleet-management challenges had affected emergency response patrols in the district but this was quickly rectified and resulted in “a meaningful breakthrough into the crimes affecting the community.”
Under the supervision of Snr Supt Khan, Special Investigations Unit officers and the Rio Claro CID and Task Force, Jacob said police intercepted a silver Nissan Tiida car with the three men.
A Glock pistol with an extended magazine containing seven rounds of 9mm and another pistol magazine were seized.
On Sunday, the police executed raids at the homes of the suspects. They found a generator, a cellphone and jewelry, which they called “items of evidential value.”
On Friday night, armed robbers entered a house in Rio Claro and robbed the occupants, before raping a teenage girl in her bedroom.
The family did not have many valuables and the thieves made off with $50 and a quantity of costume jewelry.
The night before, an elderly couple was also held at gunpoint as they watched television. The robbers beat the elderly man, demanding money.
All he had was $100 in cash, but the armed thieves took four gold rings, a 32-inch television, an Amazon Fire Tablet, three cell phones and a generator.
2 held for weapons cache
In an unrelated incident, police held two men in south Trinidad on Sunday in connection with a large cache of weapons.
A police report said at around 8.30 am, police from the Highway Patrol Task Force were conducting a traffic exercise on the northbound lane of the Solomon Hochoy Highway, near the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba, when they stopped a man driving a white Mercedez Benz. Officers searched the cars and found a black slide which is a component of a gun.
After learning the man has a firearm user’s licence (FUL), the police secured a warrant to search the man’s home and found more than 40 rounds of 9mm ammunition, contrary to the conditions of his FUL.
Acting on information, they also searched another man’s home, where they found several guns, ammunition and additional parts, including slides and barrels. One pistol they found was reconfigured with other parts, creating an entirely new gun.