Two more illegal guns found at Stadium East

Security expert Robert Finzi-Smith has commended the police following the recovery of two more illegal firearms at Stadium East on Wednesday.

The police reported that an AK-47 rifle and a Remington shotgun were found yesterday, which brings to 10 the number of weapons seized since Sunday when the operation began.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Andrew Holness said that 85 per cent of all homicides in Jamaica are committed using an illegal firearm. He also said that his administration is serious about dealing with the problem of illegal guns. Finzi-Smith argues that the magnitude of the impact that illegal guns have had on Jamaica's murder rate must not be underestimated and has urged the police to go one step further in their operations.

"Dem always say di best way to hide anything is in plain sight. Yuh must remember that to use dem effectively, yuh have to reach dem when yuh need dem. Where they put dem is fairly ingenious. The police need to go one step further. What kind of forensic evidence we can get from the weapons inclusive of potential DNA and any fingerprint? Also, find out if your ballistic records of recent crimes fit any of the weapons," he said.

"I am grateful for the lives that it [the operation] will have saved by the removal from the space. Now let us find some more and preferably in the hands of people that they shouldn't have been so we can use one stone and kill two birds," he said.

Head of the Jamaica Constabulary Force's Corporate Communications Unit, Senior Superintendent Stephanie Lindsay, confirmed to THE STAR that two more guns were found but was unable to comment extensively as the matter is still developing.

"Also I am waiting to be briefed on the matter some more but I can confirm that we have found two more weapons today," she said.

- R.M.