(Trinidad Guardian) Officers of the US-based Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) Bureau are assisting local police in tracing the origin of several high-powered rifles, machine guns and ammunition that were seized in a forested part of Santa Cruz on Wednesday afternoon.
The 35 weapons were seized as part of an operation led by officers of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) off Cangrehal Road.
Police said the officers found the cache of weapons in a shed. Two AK47 rifles, two Draco rifles, an M16 rifle, two UZI machine guns, a Beretta machine gun, a Ruger .30 calibre rifle and a Ruger Precision .50 calibre rifle were among the guns seized.
A total of 1,152 rounds of ammunition, including 45mm, 50-calibre rounds, 12-gauge shotgun cartridges, 9mm, 7.62 and 6.5 calibre armour piercing rounds were also found.
Also confiscated were a quantity of gunpowder and C4 explosives with chargers and detonators.
Minutes after the weapons were seized, they were displayed during a media conference at Police Administration Building, Port-of-Spain.
Police sources told Guardian Media that later Wednesday, ATF officers visited the building and assisted police in determining the origin of the guns.
Officers from the Strategic Services Agency (SSA) and Special Investigations Unit (SIU) are also involved in this enquiry.
One officer said the guns were at a “secure location” but noted that tests will be performed on the weapons to determine who handled them and if they were involved in any recent crimes.
He said while the serial numbers could be filed off to prevent tracing, the technology available could be used to “raise” the numbers that were on the guns.
The guns will be analysed at either the Forensic Science Centre, St James, or the Special Evidence Recovery Unit (SERU) in Cumuto.
Police sources said the guns belonged to a criminal gang and they are continuing enquiries to find those responsible.
The find was similar to one in June 2021, where officers of the now-disbanded Special Operations Response Team (SORT) received information and found an AR15 assault rifle, two pistols, a revolver and a quantity of C4 plastic explosives with detonators, in a parcel of land outside the Arouca Maximum Security Prison (MSP).