Police spokesman Gary Desrosiers specified that four assault rifles, three 9mm pistols, 35 telephones, ammunition, communication radios, memory cards, and three vehicles were seized.

As a result of the police actions, 25 people regained their freedom, 10 of them in Pacot and nine in Debussy, said Desrosiers, who called on the population to collaborate with the authorities.

“It is necessary that the inhabitants closely monitor the penetration of strangers in their neighborhood, in case the person in question is suspicious, they must be taken to a police station for the necessary follow-up,” he requested.

However, since the beginning of the week, many citizens have taken the law into their own hands and have lynched the alleged members of armed groups that have been trying to settle in their territories.

Many citizens criticized the government for not doing enough to contain the expansion of the gangs that now, practically control the capital.

María Isabel Salvador, head of the UN Integrated Office in Haiti, warned on Wednesday before the Security Council of an alarming increase in violence in Haiti. More than 1,600 homicides, rapes, kidnappings and lynchings were reported in the first three months of this year.

“Gang violence is expanding at an alarming rate in areas that were previously considered relatively safe in Port-au-Prince and outside the capital,” she said, and advocated the deployment of foreign forces to contain the gangs.

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