LONDON, England:

The local police will be targeting persons who they believe are in the business of renting or leasing guns which are used to carry out various crimes, Police Commissioner Lucius Thomas has said.

Mr. Thomas, who was speaking recently in London, says intelligence has led the police to believe the activity is taking place. He told Jamaicans in London that such a conclusion is based on evidence collected from crime scenes, which has shown that the same guns that are involved in criminal activities in one parish are being used in other parishes across the island.

Addressing the Jamaica National Building Society/Gleaner Company- sponsored 'Outlook For the Future Forum', the police chief noted: "The possibility exists from intelligence, that some people tend to either loan or rent the firearm that they have." He said such intelligence will allow the police to target those suspected of using guns as a business.

Speaking of the connection between illegal guns and the drug trade, the commissioner said that over the past three years, there has been the movement of ganja from Jamaica to Haiti, with the drug being exchanged for guns.

Those attending the forum were also told that while guns are also coming into the island from countries in Central America, including, Columbia, Nicaragua, Honduras and Venezuela, a significant number of the guns on the streets in Jamaica are coming from the United States which is the largest supplier.

Speaking of successes, Commissioner Thomas said that the transhipment of cocaine through Jamaica has seen a drastic decline as a result of new strategies and technologies employed. He highlighted that over the last three months, some 25,000 kg of ganja was seized, more than the entire amount of the drug that was seized in 2006.