Latest update March 28th, 2024 12:59 AM
Oct 16, 2015 News
Time’s up! We’re now coming after you! That was how Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan, summed up the end of the one and a half month amnesty for persons with illegal firearms and ammunition to turn them in.
With 175 weapons and more than a thousand rounds of ammunition turned in since September 1, when the amnesty started, the minister as well as the Guyana police force has described it as very successful.
Yesterday, the police received three sniper air rifles and a .38 revolver as well as fifty-five .38, twenty nine 9mm and thirty one .30 carbine ammunition.
According to the police figures, approximately 80 percent of the weapons received are shotguns.
Now that the amnesty period is over, the law enforcement agencies will be relentlessly pursuing illegal weapons, which is one of the major strategies to halt a crime rate that was threatening to get out of control.
Last month, Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo declared that there should be no discretion in imposing sentences under the law for persons found in illegal possession of firearms.
The Prime Minister while lauding the success of the amnesty had urged the country’s Magistracy and Judiciary to take judicial notice of the prevalence of crime involving the use of firearms and deal condignly with offenders.
“As a judicial officer, myself, I’m of the view that our courts must review granting of bail involving repeat offenders (who are) arraigned for illegal possession firearms, or the use of firearms in the execution of robberies,” the Prime Minister stated.
Presently the maximum penalty that can be imposed by a Magistrate for the illegal possession of a firearm is five years.
Minister Ramjattan had warned of a crackdown to rein in all unlicenced firearms as soon as the amnesty would have ended.
On Tuesday, Police Commissioner Seelall Persaud, told a gathering that the Police Force did not expect that criminals using firearms to rob persons as their only means of providing for themselves would turn in the firearms.
He also said that, similarly, it was not expected that drug traffickers and persons involved in organized crime and who use firearms to protect their interests would turn in the firearms.
However, the Commissioner of Police emphasised that the 171 firearms that had been turned in at the time, can no longer get into the hands of persons with criminal intent, nor can they be used to harm persons in moments of anger by persons who had possession of them.
A release from the Guyana Police Force stated that the organization sees the amnesty as a huge success. “The intent of the Amnesty was to have unlicensed firearms turned in to the police, and that is exactly what the programme has achieved,” the police statement said.
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
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