AG: Drones infiltrate army base

CRIMINAL COMMAND CENTRE: Attorney General John Jeremie, SC, in his contribution to extend the state of emergency for three months in Parliament on July 28 said gangs are using prisons as command centres for their illegal activities. - Photo by Ayanna Kinsale

ATTORNEY General John Jeremie said the efforts of a criminal gang syndicate against the forces of law and order went so far as to aerially infiltrate two army bases housing top gang leaders by using drones.

He made this disclosure and several other stark revelations as he moved a motion to extend the current state of emergency (SoE) which was declared on July 18 by a further three months, speaking in the House of Representatives on July 28.

All 39 MPs present voted unanimously to extend the SoE, with Speaker Jagdeo Singh supporting House Leader Barry Padarath's call for a division over objections by Port of South MP Keith Scotland who said no opposition MP had shouted "no" on the initial vote.

The SoE was declared by President Christine Kangaloo after Commissioner of Police (CoP) Allister Guevarro detailed an amalgamation of gangs that had drawn up a hit-list of public officials working in the criminal justice system, saying the criminal network extended both within and outside of Trinidad and Tobago's prisons.

Jeremie said drones were one means by which contraband was brought into prisons, to sustain criminal networks, with visitors and compromised prison officers also used.

He said, "As I mention drones, I have been cleared to say that the location that problematic inmates, those locations that they were removed to, were very recently also infiltrated by two drones. That is what I have been permitted to say on that.

"The defence force, which has custody of those areas, have dealt with that situation."

The AG lamented that TT's prisons were being used jailed gang-leaders as a "command centre" for the illicit operations.

Noting the SoE debate was happening 35 years after the July 27, 1990, attempted coup, he said today's threat to the State was worse, as it was from many sources not just one as in 1990.

The AG said without the SoE and its operations "many of us may not have been here today."

He related personally seeing that Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar had immediately accepted the CoP's recommendations and agreed to an SoE.

Jeremie said an SoE cannot be the entirety of a crime plan. He said it was an urgent and necessary measure to give the police requisite powers to dismantle a criminal enterprise against the State.

The criminal enterprise, he said, was to assault individuals, attack buildings and generally hobble the criminal justice system. In this, he recalled the previous shooting murder of Randall Hector, 44, a prosecutor on the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) after preaching in church on Old Year's Night.

Saying "Terrorism has evolved since 1990," he recalled Jamaat al Muslimeen fighters taking maxi-taxis to their target destinations such as the Red House and TTT, but today's gang members now being "armed to the teeth" including possessing c4 explosives.

He said gang activities taking place nationwide such as kidnapping people for ransom was all part of "a co-ordinated surge," sparked by leaders from behind prison walls.

He said the government has just given the police what it had sought, boosting officers morale and enthusiasm.

The AG lamented the coinciding of rival gangs coming together plus a lack of State responsiveness allegedly under the former government.

Jeremie said gangs were no longer separated by rivalries nor prison walls, even as they had access to cellphones, Internet and social media to aid their activities, unlike in 1990.

"We are dealing now with multiple forms of encrypted communication on a host of platforms, along with complex flows of money, arms and equipment to these gangs from other international criminal organisations."

While prisons have many hard-working and courageous officers, the prison system has been comprised, he said.

He said before raids on prisons cells by the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) of the police service, certain prison officers would shout out to warn inmate kingpins. He lamented the bribery, coercion and fear-mongering of prison officers by inmates.

Jeremie said the government has the political will to tackle the gangs, as he sought the opposition's support for a united effort.

"We are going to deal with this cancer." He vowed not to tolerate kidnappings or allow criminal to otherwise wreak havoc on TT.

"The Prime Minister said she would not stand idly by while a minority of illegally-armed individuals intimidate the population."