Bulletins issued for Trini, other man
Police last evening issued wanted bulletins for businessman Clayton Hutson, Trinidadian Joseph Aboud and a 23-year-old man in connection with the discovery of high-powered arms and ammunition at a Regent Street house on Wednesday.
The area where the barrel containing the three high-powered weapons, 713 rounds of ammunition and other items were found by members of the joint services on Wednesday night.
Hutson and Aboud have had several run-ins with the law. Frankie Ross is the third man wanted by the law enforcement officers for questioning in relation to the illegal importation of firearms and ammunition.
Meanwhile three women held at the house on Wednesday were still in police custody up to press time last evening. The women who are employed at well-known business establishments in the city have all denied any knowledge of the weapons or the other contents of the barrel. One is employed at an entertainment centre, one at a jewellery establishment and the other at a pharmacy.
This newspaper understands that the barrel in question is addressed to Ross who is related to the women in custody.
From all appearances he does not reside at Lot 120 Regent Street, Bourda where the items were unearthed by members of the joint services.
Police in a release issued on Thursday evening said that the ranks conducted a search at the house around 6.30 pm on Wednesday where they discovered an AK-47 rifle with the number filed off, a pistol with a silencer, a Mosberg shotgun, 713 rounds of ammunition of various calibre, 7 magazines for different firearms, a green camouflage water bottle and a green canvas pouch in a barrel.
According to the police, 44-year-old Hutson’s last known address is Lot 50 New Hope, East Back Demerara. He has a mole on the bridge of his nose and is five feet, five inches tall.
Aboud is a 31-year-old Trinidadian national whose last known address is Lot 355 Cummings Street, Alberttown. He is 6 ft tall. Ross is five ft five ins tall. His place of abode is unknown, police said.
Hutson who is the owner of several businesses had been before the court on several occasions.
Aboud was held along with several others in a house in Nandy Park several years ago when members of the joint services conducted a raid in search of the missing army AK-47 rifles.
Ballistic tests
The weapons and ammo found. (Police photo)
In light of the discovery it was expected that ballistics tests would be done on the firearms to determine if they were used in any crimes and that began yesterday but up to press time the results were not available.
The army is still missing several AK-47s from the 30 that were stolen from Camp Ayanganna in 2006 but it could not been ascertained from army officials if the rifle found was from that stolen batch.
Sources say the pistol with the silencer is particularly disturbing and may point to the execution-style killings that have been occurring routinely. Observers have said that with the killing by the police of Rondell `Fineman’ Rawlins and Jermaine `Skinny’ Charles there would be stepped up pressure for the police to crack down on other armed gangs engaged in extra-judicial acts.
Contacted last evening, Acting Police Commissioner, Henry Greene confirmed that ballistic tests had begun on the weapons but had not been completed. Asked whether there is any suspicion that the weapons may have been linked to any recent crime scenes he said he was still unsure about this and preferred to wait on the results of the tests.
He promised that once the results were available, same will be provided to the media.
Frankie Ross
Meanwhile Crime Chief Seelall Persaud when asked about the possibility of charges being laid against the women said that that stage of the investigation has not been reached.
There have been several cases of large amounts of arms and ammunition being found and questions have been raised about how they have flowed into the country. Porous borders are believed to be the key entry point but there are also questions about the level of security at ports.
Regular barrels
During a visit to the Regent Street house, this newspaper noticed several barrels in all shapes, colour and sizes in the yard. The names of two of the females in custody were visible on one of the barrels and another bore a Florida, USA address.
The weapons and other items were found in a blue plastic barrel which was next to three others in an area under the house.
This is the first instance this newspaper understands that law enforcement ranks had swooped down on the premises to conduct a search.
A source revealed to Stabroek News yesterday that from all appearances the army acting on intelligence first turned up at the house on Wednesday and conducted a search during which they found the weapons, ammunition and other items. These according to the source were removed from the barrel and the police arrived at the premise hours later and collected the barrel.
Coincidentally, the women, who this newspaper was told were at home during this course of events, were not arrested until around 3 pm on Thursday when ranks again visited the home.
Persons in the area were still dumbfounded yesterday and a man pointed out that the women who had been living at the house for years are very peaceful people.
Many did not know of the incident until they began receiving telephone calls early yesterday morning.
Joseph Aboud
One man said that he noticed when ranks entered a yard nearby on Wednesday night and were looking around under a house before taking away a barrel. He stressed that at that point he was unaware of what was taking place and only became aware of what had happened when persons called him.
Glad to see the photos of these three …The photo of the three women must be shown too..Let the public and the entire world see who these people are….
Those in authority are urged to do your job now…No plea bargains for any of them….Let them state their intention and whom are they working for…The AK 47 is frightening but not as frightening as the silencer for the other gun…That gun with the silencer was for someone very special.
I agree with you, these are a mean bunch of people.
From information available at this time the GPF should be commended.
The joint services should find these guys quickly before they can exit the country or seek refuge in “safe “areas in the country . Once found guilty –they should be prosecuted .
if these weapons are traced to crimes jail these men for life.
change the law, anyone found with these type of weapons will get a term of no less than 25yrs.
grill these women until they provide names, [no torture and record interrogation.]
more info will lead to others, good work.
Good work, well done Joint Service, I’m very please with this operationand the progress made. Just last week some of the bloggers on this site were very critical in their comment as it relates to the disbursment of the reward money. I, on the other hand strongly recomended and supported the governemnt’s position, to have the reward money divided amounts the Joint Service and the informant. This kind of reward act as a form of motivation that producted results.
Keep the positive attiude going and bring all conected to this matter to answer charges.
Persons who sends barrels with clothes and food stuffs to their families and friends better be careful, I used to send barrels to my dad, I don’t have to any longer, he’s gone to sleep 4 ever, I remembered he used to still keep my barrels and sometimes gave them to others, who would use them to pack old clothes, with my name and address not taken off, if persons used these barrels to store weapons without taking the names off of these barrels, that may have been sent by an innocent person, there can be a problem with the name on the barrel, which was not sent to the person/s storing the weapons, terrible situation/s, this does’nt mean that the person/s who r living /not living there have no knowledge of those weapons, it has to be determined, if those who were present in the home at the time the raid was made, are knowledgeable of the storage items in the se barrel/s. It has not been stated, if these barrels were locked or unlocked, if they were, then who had the keys to unlock them, that person is totally responsible, and not others living in nor visiting the home, so be careful again rookies, u did a good job finding them through snitcher/s who were doing the right thing, now do the right in arresting the culpit/s. The boarders needs proper protection, and someone is responsible if these barrels were posted, allowing them to pass inspection/s without proper searches.