Police seize ‘Chip Glock’ in Norwood amid ‘Operation Zero’

Western Bureau:

The firearm popularly known as the ‘Chip Glock’, which is said to be the weapon of choice among Jamaican gangsters based in the United States (US), has now been discovered in the possession of local thugs, with one reportedly seized by the security forces in an operation in Norwood, St James, yesterday.

The Chip Glock is a Glock pistol that has been modified by affixing a small device at the rear of the slide of the weapon, which allows it to operate in fully automatic mode – firing multiple rounds in rapid succession. Its use is illegal in the US.

According to Deputy Superintendent of Police Ainsley McCarthy, who is head of operations for the two zones of special operations (ZOSOs) in St James - in Norwood and Mt Salem - the weapon was found in Norwood, which has been relatively peaceful since the start of the year.

“During the operation this morning, we recovered one 9mm Glock pistol equipped with a chip which modified the weapon to fire automatically,” said McCarthy. “No one was taken into custody. This (the gun) was found under an abandoned building along with some lead sheets that are used in the lottery scamming.”

‘Operation Zero’

Yesterday’s operation, which was launched under the code name ‘Operation Zero’, is the latest initiative by the security forces to blunt lawlessness in the two ZOSOs, where they are working to have zero murders this year.

“This morning, about 4 a.m., we launched Operation Zero. This is in relation to maintaining zero murders in the space of Norwood,” explained McCarthy. “Last year we had a zero-murder year, and we intend to keep it that way for this year.”

St James, which has been consistently registering more than 100 murders every year since 2005, is currently enjoying one of its best starts to a year in recent memory, a whopping 66.7 reduction between January and March 29 over the corresponding period last year, which had 39 murders in comparison to the 13 this year.

Since the start of the year, several top-tier gangsters have been killed in alleged gunfights with the police, and gang activities have been on the decline as many of the major players have reportedly fled the parish in response to the relentless pressure from the police.

During a recent St James Municipal Corporation monthly meeting, Senior Superintendent Eron Samuels, the police commander for the parish, told councillors that the police will be pulling out all the stops to ensure that the murder count drops below the 100 mark this.

“It is our intention to see if we can bring the murder figure below 100 this year,” said Samuels. “In fact, it is our intention to do that based on the trajectory, and what we are putting in place, and we believe that with the help and partnership with the stakeholders, the strategies that we put in place in the communities, we can achieve this.”

Regarding the fear that some St James gangsters, who are based in the US, might be deported back to the parish under the current immigration crackdown by the Donald Trump administration, Samuels made it clear that plans are in place to address any eventualities, as they are monitoring what is happening in the US.

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