Police are checking to see if the AK-47 found during a search of a motor lorry at a Buckhall checkpoint on Tuesday, is one of those stolen from the army several years ago, according to Crime Chief Seelall Persaud who said that the 11 men detained remain in police custody.
Contacted for an update, Persaud said yesterday that while the serial number on the weapon had been filed off, investigators are still trying to trace its origin.
He stated that one of the persons detained had confessed but “we are still conducting investigations” and noted that the discovery was made during a routine search at the checkpoint.
The police had said in their press release that ranks stationed at the checkpoint located at 70 km Buckhall, conducted a search on a motor lorry and found the AK-47 rifle with 12 matching rounds.
From all indications all 11 men were travelling in the said vehicle.
The appearance of the AK-47 will most likely spark jitters. AK-47s were the weapon of choice during the crime spree from 2007. It was compounded by the loss of 30 such weapons from the GDF’s armory at the base camp in February 2006.
Seventeen of the weapons were later found in the possession of criminals.
The identity of whoever took the weapons remains unknown, even though Lieutenant Colonel Tony Ross, who was in charge of the armory at the time, was found guilty in May 2008 of failing to effectively manage the army’s weapons’ store resulting in the theft of the weapons.
