U.S. resident charged with illegal firearm, explosives

While Jerris Martinez was allegedly committing those reprehensible crimes early Monday morning, police were not far away busting a U.S. citizen just down the beach. Fifty year old Dean DeMarks, a New Jersey insurance agent looking to build condominiums in Seine Bight, may have to put his plans on hold, as when police searched his home they found not only an unlicensed handgun and ammo, but a quantity of C-4 explosives along with detonating accessories. It seems that DeMarks had gotten crosswise with some of his neighbours over the last few years and had threatened to blow up the village. Hence, the police intervention. Where did DeMarks get his hands on the explosives? He told police they came from a B.D.F. soldier. However, Colonel Reuel Black confirmed to us this evening that checks of all the B.D.F’s storage facilities countrywide have determined that their stocks are accounted for. Nonetheless, the B.D.F. has sent an expert from their Explosive Ordinance Disposal Unit to examine the C-4 and a lance corporal remains confined to Price Barracks tonight until their investigations are complete. That is because it’s possible that the soldier could have still come into possession of the explosive as the B.D.F is not the only entity that uses such material. Black said oil companies, road builders and quarry operators also use it in their line of work. They are now trying to determine whether the soldier named by De Marks could have found the C-4 and sold it to him. Black assured the public that the B.D.F’s explosive storage facilities are tightly controlled and are checked on a daily basis. DeMarks, meanwhile, is charged with Possession of Explosive Devices, an Unlicensed Firearm and Ammunition. He will appear Friday in Dangriga Magistrates’ Court.