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Basseterre, St. Kitts, February 07, 2016 (RSCNPF): A number of Combined Search Operations conducted by members of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force, the St. Kitts and Nevis Defence Force and Her Majesty’s Customs and Excise Department in the Shadwell, McKnight, St. Johnson’s Village and surrounding areas, has garnered public support from residents of the areas. The searches were conducted on Friday (February 05).

After a week of surveillance and intelligence gathering, the units executed eleven (11) simultaneous house searches on premises suspected to be the hang outs of known gang members. The searches were done in attempts to rid our communities of controlled drugs, illegal firearms, ammunition and other articles that can used in the commission of a crime.

Twenty (20), 5.56 rounds of ammunition, eleven (11), .45 rounds of ammunition and 2000 seedling cannabis plants were seized by the Police in the searches.

To date Police efforts have removed (2) illegal firearms and over 50 rounds of ammunition from our communities. In addition today’s seizure brings the total of seized marijuana plants to over almost 4000.

Inspector Adolph Adams, Head of the Special Services Unit said, “the Police Service saw an increase in violent crime in our communities,” and added, “we are taking measures to reduce such crimes in neighbourhoods. We made a call to our partner agencies , the Defence Force, and Customs and they have answered the call. Together we will reduce this trend.”

The SSU head thanks the residents of Shadwell, McKnight, St. Johnson’s Village and the other areas for their support and expressions of encouragement. He said, “their support clearly shows, they want to have safe communities and I encourage them to work with the Police Service to achieve it.” He added, “together we can make the difference.

Commenting on the feedback from the area residents with regards to the increased Police presence, Inspector Travis Rogers of Anti-Drug Unit said, “residents openly expressed appreciation that the Police were in the neighbourhoods and shared that they were glad to see us and we should come more often.” He added, “some also expressed that the challenges faced in the community regarding crime, comes from lack of community involvement and that the community needs to go back to talking to the police.”

“OPERATION VICE GRIP” is one of the many combined and coordinated operations that will be executed by Police in efforts to reduce violent crimes in the Federation.

Citizens can do their part to assist the Police in their efforts to ensuring Citizen Safety by sharing any information on criminal activity with the Police. Call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-8477 (TIPS) or any Police Station. Crime Stoppers is an effective crime fighting tool that allows citizens to provide information regarding criminal activity anonymously. Calls to Crime stoppers are answered in Canada and not by anyone in the Federation. Additionally, persons may be eligible for a reward for information that contributes to the solving of any crime.