Ian Allen/Staff Photographer
Guns recovered from May Pen, Clarendon, on April 18. The Police Area 3, which comprises the parishes of Clarendon, Manchester and St. Elizabeth.

SILOAH, ST. ELIZABETH:

One man was shot and killed and another hospitalised, and a gun and ammunition recovered following a shoot-out with the police at Goshen, St. Elizabeth.

The dead man has been identified as 38-year-old Noel Abel of a St. Elizabeth address.

In hospital suffering from gunshot wounds and under police guard is Winston Richards.

According to reports, members of the St. Elizabeth police and Area Three Flying Squad, acting on information, went to a house at Goshen, where men believed to be involved in the guns-for-drugs trade with Haiti were staying.

Upon their approach, the police were greeted by gunfire. The police returned the fire, and when the shooting subsided, two men were found in the house suffering from gunshot wounds.

A .38 revolver with spent shells along with nine live rounds was also found on the floor of the house beside the men.

The police also found 100 pounds or 45 kilograms of cured ganja in the house.

Inspector Paul Bernard of the St. Elizabeth police, who led the early-morning operation, told The Gleaner it was believed that the men were preparing the drugs for export in the guns-for-drugs trade with Haiti.

Inspector Bernard also said that some time ago, a number of Haitians, who had entered the country illegally, were picked up at the same house in Goshen by the Santa Cruz police.

Earlier this year, at a crime forum organised by the St. Elizabeth Homecoming Foundation, commander for the Police Area Three, acting ACP Kingsley Robinson, described the parish's coast as a haven for the trading in guns-for-drugs with Haiti.

ACP Robinson, at the time, pointed out that due to many open beaches and hidden coves along the St. Elizabeth coastline, it is easy for the illegal trade to take place without detection.

- Neville Paul