Police continue investigations into alleged theft of loaded firearm, the property of a union official, from his vehicle

The Police continue to investigate the theft of a gun belonging to Chester Hughes, the deputy general secretary of the Antigua and Barbuda Workers’ Union (ABWU).

According to reports, Hughes’ loaded gun went missing on Saturday, May 6, between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m.

The 49-year-old Paynters resident reported to the Parham Police Station, at about 4:30 p.m. the same day, that his firearm – a black-and-silver 9 mm Ruger, with a magazine of 17 rounds of ammunition – had been removed from his vehicle.

Reportedly, Hughes had placed the weapon in the driver’s door pocket of his Subaru Legacy at about 7 a.m. that morning.  He says he left home at approximately 10:30 a.m. to pick up a Golden Grove man whom he had engaged to cut his yard.

When he came back, Hughes says, he locked his vehicle, leaving the weapon in the car and went inside to get some sleep.  However, later that afternoon, the gardener reportedly woke him and said he was leaving and that he was getting a ride from someone else.

Reports are that, at about 4:20 p.m., Hughes went back to the vehicle to retrieve his firearm – and discovered that it had been stolen.

A search for the firearm was carried out, without success; and initial efforts to contact the Golden Grove man were not successful.