Three men were held and 13 guns seized by the police yesterday during an early morning operation at Heroes Circle in Kingston.  One of the men held was described as a major arms trafficker. He was identified only as 'German'.

During the operation, a man identified only as 'Rasta', a taxi operator, was shot and killed in an alleged gunfight between the police and gunmen. 

Police searched the area up to late afternoon yesterday in search of two men who escaped the dragnet set up by officers from Operation Kingfish and the Special Anti-Crime Task Force.

German, according to spokesman for Operation Kingfish, Inspector Steve Brown, was out on bail after he was arrested in a 'get-the-guns' initiative in Hellshire, St Catherine three months ago.  He was also stated as being one of the leading players in the guns-for-drugs trade operating between Jamaica and Haiti.

"We have been doing a lot of work around him. He is one of the biggest characters in this thing and we intend to question him about the incident. We have also identified most of the persons in his syndicate and as we speak our investigators are going after them," Brown told reporters at a press conference at the Scene of Crime head office in Kingston yesterday.

Police said the men were travelling in a blue Toyota station wagon and a grey motor car from a dock in Kingston. The 13 weapons and more than 300 assorted rounds of ammunition, with an estimated street value of $1.8 million were believed to have been loaded from a boat which departed the Haitian coast late Monday night.

According to the police, the men disobeyed signals by the police to stop and proceeded towards Heroes Circle where they were again signalled to stop by the lawmen. This time, the police said, the men opened fire at a patrol and tried to flee from their vehicles.

The police said the gunfire was returned and following the gunfight the taxi operator was found dead and three of the men said to be travelling in the vehicles held. Two others made quick escapes.

An M14 rifle, four revolvers, eight 9mm semi-automatic pistols and just under 400 assorted rounds of ammunition were subsequently seized.

"For us that is a major dent in the drugs-for-guns trade between Jamaica and Haiti and we want to just keep the appeal out to citizens that when they have information about illegal guns they should give us a call so we can come and get them," said Brown.