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A nation-wide search was on last night for two men who escaped when police found a quantity of arms and ammunition in the car in which they were travelling during the wee hours of Christmas morning.

Police, several of whom had the Christmas Day off and were called out, have described the find as the largest ever in the Cedros area.

It included four 12-gauge shotguns, one pump-action shotgun, four nine millimetre pistols and one Magnum 3.57 revolver. They also found 1,000 rounds of ammunition and diving equipment in the car trunk.

The guns and ammunition were said to have been made in Venezuela, Brazil, USA, and Hungary.

Two all weather jackets and two cellular phones were also found in the car.

The men were stopped by police near Perseverance Estate, Icacos, in a roadblock by a party of officers from the Cedros police station.

Police said around 3.30am they were on patrol in the Icacos and Cedros areas when they saw two men acting suspiciously in a white B 13 Sentra car, which was leaving Icacos.

During a chase with the police, the car skidded off the road and the driver and another man got out,ran and disappeared in the nearby forest.

One of the men was said to be known to the police.

The car was impounded and was under watch at the Cedros Police Station.

After the escape, a police helicopter was called in to assist in the hunt for the men who were believed to be heavily armed and heading towards San Fernando.

Police said they had instituted stricter surveillance on the south western peninsula since the start of the national strike in Venezuela. Other sources said,” since the strike a number of people from the Venezuelan mainland come to Icacos and Cedros to sell contraband items and to buy commodities that are in scarce supply in Venezuela.”

Yesterday police set up a number of road blocks from Oropouche to Icacos in a bid to find the two escaped men. Several police officers attached to the South Western Division were called out from their Christmas holiday to assist in the search.

Villagers of Cedros and Icacos have welcomed the presence of police in the areas and are also assisting them with information which could lead to the capture of the men.

Senior supt Denis Graham of the south western division is spearheading the search. Graham is assisted by among others ASP Rattan Singh, Insp Elvis Valdez, Ag. Insp David Campbell, Cpls Vernon Clarke and Roger Ramchand.