Police Superintendent Paul Rolle revealed yesterday that some weapons that have been confiscated by Bahamian police have been found on the streets of other jurisdictions.
Rolle, who heads the Central Detection Unit (CDU), made that relevation as he spoke about the country’s high murder count and the gun seizures for the year so far. Up to yesterday, 125 murders had been committed.
While he did not go into detail, Rolle admitted that police have traced the guns to crimes that were committed outside of the country.
Police confiscated 536 firearms and almost 12,000 rounds of ammunition in 2011.
Rolle noted that there are still too many firearms coming through the Bahamian ports of entry.
Police confiscated 170 weapons in 2006; 211 in 2007; 257 in 2008; 312 in 2009; and 261 in 2010, the Nassau Guardian reported.
“We don’t sell firearms here in The Bahamas,” Rolle told the paper.
“And so… most of the firearms, with the exception of those in the possession of police or Defence Force or (other) law enforcement, are illegal – and of course the few citizens who have gotten permission to possess [weapons]. Outside of that, any weapon you find on the street is illegal, which means that there is some criminal element involved in that.”
In July, the government got a firearms marking machine in a bid to crack down on the illegal guns in the country.
The marking of firearms is a process that permanently marks the weapon with identifiable information like a serial number, name and place it was manufactured or imported.
Source: The Nassau Guardian
