TRINIDAD-Police, National Security Minister condemns statements made by Opposition Leader.

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PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – The Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) said it had taken note of a statement released by Opposition Leader Kamla Persad Bissessar urging police officers “to tell the country the truth” regarding what a High Court judge here has described as “the abduction” of a Trinidadian national in Barbados.

National Security Minister, Fitzgerald Hinds, has also rebuked the Opposition Leader “for interfering in the affairs of the operational activities of the TTPS and, in so doing, to influence them and influence the outcome of ongoing investigations.”

Persad Bissessar has already written to the Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley urging an investigation into the arrested of arms dealer Brent Thomas, whom a High Court judge here, Justice Devindra Rampersad, said had been “abducted” from Barbados by police to face criminal charges there.

Persad Bissessar, in a statement over the weekend, told police officers, “It is time to put yourselves, your families, and the reputation of the TTPS first. Please do not continue to believe those washing their hands off you; seek legal advice. Tell the country the truth and let the chips fall where they may”.

The TTPS said that Persad Bissessar’s statement alludes to “allegations that members of the hierarchy of the TTPS are coercing and attempting to convince the officers who are implicated in this abduction to modify their reports to protect the Minister who may have been directing them all along.”

It said, “While it is not the intention of the Office of Commissioner to be distracted from its urgent and onerous mandate of preventing and detecting crime and to be lured into responding to every specious allegation that is made against it, this case qualifies as an exception, if only because it strikes at the very root of the integrity of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service, which I am duty bound to nurture and protect.

“The Trinidad and Tobago Police Service wholly and categorically denies the allegations being made in the media releases and calls upon all citizens to be responsible in their utterances and to be mindful of the potentially adverse effects their utterances can have on the functioning of the organization and the implications for law enforcement in our country.”

The TTPS reiterated that the Brent Thomas matter is currently before the courts. In the interim, it “must manage any disclosure about that matter by the etiquette required for due process.

“Finally, I take this opportunity to assure all citizens of Trinidad and Tobago that the TTPS will be responsible and professional in fulfilling its constitutional mandate and will continue to do so diligently, fiercely, fearlessly, and independently of the influence of all politicians.”

In his statement, Hinds said he wanted to “strongly condemn the conduct of the Opposition Leader, for interfering in the affairs of the operational activities of the TTPS, and in so doing, to influence them and influence the outcome of ongoing investigations.

“Quite reprehensibly, she is accusing police officers of lying at the request of politicians. This is an unprecedented and dangerous attack on the independence of and the integrity of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service.”

Hinds said this “matter deserves the notice of the wider national community.” As National Security Minister, it is his “solemn duty, in light of this mischief, to urge all officers of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service to continue to conduct your affairs with dignity, integrity, and professionalism, by the Police Service Act; in your service to the people of Trinidad and Tobago.”

Thomas was first arrested on September 29, 2022, and later released. He was re-arrested in Barbados, where he said he intended to travel to Miami to meet his cardiologist and returned forcibly to Trinidad and Tobago.

He was later charged with possessing weapons, including grenades and rifles.

In a constitutional motion, Thomas challenged his detention and the procurement of search warrants for his home and his dealership.

In granting the numerous declarations Thomas had asked for, Justice Rampersad ordered that his ruling be sent to the Justice of the Peace Association and the Commissioner of Police on what information is required, on oath, to procure search warrants by officers.

In his 97-page judgment, the judge said from the evidence, he was satisfied that the warrants were “unlawfully obtained.” The state has since appealed the ruling.

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