* This is NOT actual illegal guns seized by local authorities.
The importation of illegal firearms into the country continue to be a major issue for law enforcement officials and is mostly linked to the drug trade, National Security Minister Victor Lacobiniere has disclosed.
Lacobiniere believes there needs to be more targeted intelligence to recover illegal weapons, something he admits the police has not been too successful at doing.
“I continue to say to the Commissioner of Police and previous Commissioners that we are aware that they are high powered weapons in the country and there has to be a more targeted intelligence driven plan to recover these weapons,” he asserted.
The minister said while he believes the police are doing what they can, there is a dire need for more intelligence driven operations, international cooperation, and a build up of more local and special intelligence.
“The substance of the problem comes with the drug trade. With every shipment of drugs that comes into the country and sometimes transits through the country, we have the opportunity for firearms coming in,” he explained.
Lacobiniere said some of these weapons even come through the normal ports, because the country lacks a very comprehensive system of screening.
“And I say a very comprehensive system of screening, because if you notice, we do not have the kind of heightened electronic screening that you would have,” he remarked.
But if the government were to increase surveillance at various ports of entry, it could be a very expensive undertaking to purchase x-ray machines to check each container.
“The government continues to do what it can for law enforcement, to try to interdict,” Lacobiniere noted.
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