I was speaking with a friend from Trinidad yesterday who informed me that for 2008 Trinidad has had over 530 homicide cases. All of them unsolved. He further stated that now it is normal to solve problems in Trinidad by use of the gun.
Guyana is still better off and the GPF should be given kudos for this.

quote:

Originally posted by dood:
I was speaking with a friend from Trinidad yesterday who informed me that for 2008 Trinidad has had over 530 homicide cases. All of them unsolved. He further stated that now it is normal to solve problems in Trinidad by use of the gun.
Guyana is still better off and the GPF should be given kudos for this.

Well why does'nt the Pee Pee Pee gov't evacuate its Indo citizens from our deadly shores?

60 CARS SEIZED


Cops crack big racket at Licensing Office



Richard Charan


Wednesday, January 7th 2009(T&T Express)




A police officer who bought a stolen car, and paid corrupt licensing officials $5,000 to become the legal owner, was one of several people arrested by Fraud Squad officers engaged in dismantling one of the biggest and deepest rackets in Trinidad and Tobago.

The constable's car was one of 60 vehicles seized in a fast moving investigation into a corrupt network involving some used car dealers, auto repair garages, Licensing Division officials, driving instructors, and a small army of touts working at the gates of the San Fernando, Chaguanas, and Port of Spain Licensing Offices.

The secret investigation broke at 3 a.m. Monday, when there were simultaneous raids at the Ministry of Works and Transport offices.

It was ordered by Acting Commissioner of Police James Philbert. Fraud Squad an Anti-Corruption Bureau officers timed the raids to prevent any chance of documents linked to the registration of stolen Nissan Almeras and B-15 Sentras from vanishing.

Warrants have been signed to search the homes and businesses of prominent people in Central and South Trinidad.

Late yesterday, investigators were raiding the businessplace of an Enterprise car dealer, the Express learned.

One search took place in Carapichaima at nightfall Monday.

It involved policemen who came in two buses, soldiers and members of the Crime Suppression Unit and Guard and Emergency Branch, and eight tow trucks.

Fifteen vehicles were taken from the compound and the garage owner arrested.

The vehicles, B-11s, B-15s, Almeras, Renaults, and Ad Wagons, are impounded at the Vehicle Maintenance Company (VMCOTT), Beetham Gardens.

Police believe the cars taken from murdered taxi drivers Margaret Constantine and Seeram Hanoman ended up in the racket, with a fee of between $5,000 and $10,000 paid to destroy the registration documents of the cars and prepare new paperwork to produce a certified copy with the new owner's name.

The B-15 Sentras belonging to Constantine and Hanoman were never found.

Police say registration fraud is believed to be so big that there may be tens of thousands of vehicles on the nation's roads that were stolen or improperly registered.

Bamboo drug accused face liquor charge



By INDARJIT SEURAJ Friday, January 9 2009(T&T Newsday)



Two Bamboo Village, Valsayn men held in a $5.5 million drug bust just days before the end of 2008, were yesterday also charged with importing liquor without a licence.

Boat captain Charran Ramlogan, 42, of Bamboo Village Number One, and Magnath Ramsahai, of Northern Avenue, Bamboo Village Number Three were each granted $1 million bail to cover five charges.

They are also facing charges of possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking, importing prohibited goods, namely 559 kilos of marijuana, importing restricted goods, namely a live goat and pig and importing restricted goods, namely 12 sticks of fireworks.

Ramlogan is also charged with leaving Trinidad and Tobago waters without permission.

Yesterday, the accused both pleaded “not guilty” to the charge of illegal importation of alcohol when they stood before Senior Magistrate Lucina Cardenas-Ragoonanan, in the Port-of-Spain Fourth (A) Court.

In the charges laid by Ag Customs Officer II Afzal Ali of the Customs and Excise Marine Interdiction Unit, it is alleged that the accused imported 14 cases of “Polar Light” beer.

Attorney with the Custom and Excise Division Harricharan Kassie objected to application for bail by defence attorney Shawn Fulchan.

Kassie told the magistrate the accused posed a flight risk, after the captain had been charged with leaving the country unlawfully.

The attorney also cited the quantum of the drugs in his objection.

Cardenas-Ragoonanan granted bail and ordered that the bail be with a surety and approved by the Clerk of the Peace III.

The accused were also told to report daily to the St Joseph Police Station between 7 am and 7 pm.

They were ordered to return to court on January 19.

On December 16, 2008, the Coast Guard deployed Interceptor 016, referred to as Midnight, after they received a report from the National Coastal Radar Surveillance Centre (NCRSC) that an unknown vessel was spotted four nautical miles south of Chacachacare Island.

An unnamed 28 foot pirogue was boarded minutes later where officers allegedly discovered the drugs stuffed in 23 crocus bags.

Senior cop charged with Yuletide killing


Camille Clarke | 8:25 pm



Published: January 11th, 2009(Trinidad Guardian)



Asst Supt Junior Copeland has been charged with the murder of Ashley Charles of Wallerfield. The senior cop will appear in Arima Magistrates’ Court today, also charged with attempted murder, wounding with intent, and shooting with intent.

These charges follow an incident in which Charles was shot, last Christmas Day, on Demerara Road in Wallerfield, off Arima.

Charles’ brother, Mackie, and mother Francesca, 49, were also shot during the incident, which reportedly stemmed from an argument over land. During the fracas, the senior officer sustained injuries to the head. He was taken to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mt Hope.

Immediately after Copeland was released from hospital on Friday, the warrant was executed, investigators said. Snr Supt of Northern Division Police, Rajendranath Maharaj, is continuing investigations.

Asst Commissioner of Police (North-East) Samuel Jemmott laid the charges.

Search in Rousillac for missing teenager


Radhica Sookraj


Published: January 11th, 2009 (Trinidad Guardian)




A manhunt is on in Rousillac for missing teenager Rajdaye Rampersad, who disappeared after a spiritual cleansing at a Point Fortin Hindu temple on Friday. In an interview yesterday, Rampersad’s uncle, Bobby, said they spent hours searching Rousillac, after receiving a number of prank calls.

He said one caller told the family that he wanted $5 million in exchange for Rampersad’s safety. However, Bobby said he did not think the call was a genuine one. “If this was really a kidnapping, the kidnapper would know that we don’t have any money, so they will not ask for $5 million,” Bobby explained.

He said the only genuine call they received was from a man who said if the family wanted Rampersad back, they should check in Rousillac. Bobby said more than 30 villagers accompanied the family in the search.

“This morning, we woke up about 5 and we started looking. We searched for hours and hours, and still we have not found her,” Bobby said. He added that Rampersad knew a few people in the Point Fortin district. However, he said he did not believe that Rampersad had run away. He said her boyfriend was also puzzled by her sudden disappearance, and had helped in searching for her yesterday.

Bobby said that they were also concerned by the possibility that Rampersad was a victim of human trafficking. “We are scared that we may never find her, but we are keeping the faith. We worried about the reports that young girls are being trafficked, but we are begging God that we will find her soon.”

Rampersad, of Kanhai Trace in Barrackpore, was last seen wearing a yellow jersey and brown skirt at the Durgaa Shakti Temple, on Dam Road, Point Fortin. She attended Southern Community College in San Fernando, and had gone to pray at the temple with her mother, Bissoondaye Rampersad.

Relatives said Rampersad had gone to get a special “jharay,” or spiritual cleansing, to ward off evil spirits. She went into the temple’s bathroom to bathe before she went missing.


Anyone with information on her whereabouts can contact Point Fortin Police Station, at 648-2426.

Missing teen turns up with husband


Anika Gumbs-Sandiford



Published: January 12th, 2009(Trinidad Guardian)



Teenager Rajdaye Rampersad, who went missing last Friday, walked into Oropouche Police Station yesterday afternoon with her husband, Ryan Ramjit. The couple was married yesterday. Rampersad, who was dressed in a yellow outfit, told officers that she loved her new husband, and wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. Rampersad disappeared after a spiritual cleansing ceremony at a Point Fortin temple on Friday.

Her relatives and villagers had spent the weekend searching for her. Her family received a number of prank calls, including one demanding $5 million.

The officers contacted Rampersad’s parents, who met their son-in-law for the first time.

Rampersad apologised for causing concern and making her parents worry. Police said no charges could be laid against the teenager, since she was 18 years old, but they pleaded with others not to run away to get married, but level with their parents.


Rajdaye Rampersad

K-9 cop on $25,000 bail


Denyse Renne



Thursday, January 15th 2009(T&T Express)



A police officer attached to the K-9 unit appeared before a Port of Spain Magistrate yesterday, charged with three counts of misbehavior in public office.

Constable Vrian Stevens, who joined the service in 1999 as a Special Reserve Police (SRP) and was absorbed into the regular police force in 2000, appeared before Magistrate Nirmala Maharaj-Loquan in the Tenth Court.

It is alleged that sometime between August 31, 2008 to October 16, 2008, Stevens, in his capacity as a dog handler, was working at the Crown Point International Airport, when several check in passengers reported items were missing from their suitcases.

The court heard that Stevens was arrested at his La Baja, Maracas, St Joseph, home by detectives of the Organised Crime Narcotics and Firearms Bureau on Monday morning.

The exercise was headed by newly-appointed Senior Superintendent Simon Alexis of the OCNFB.

It was during the search at his home that detectives allegedly found seven digital cameras, battery chargers for the cameras and bottles of perfume. Stevens was not called upon to plead as the charges were laid indictably. He was granted $25,000 bail and the matter adjourned to January 19. The matters were transferred to the Tobago Magistrates' Court.

Maraval man charged with assault of fashion designer



Friday, January 30 2009(T&T Newsday)



Alejandra Zuluaga, the Colombian fashion designer who was smashed with a drinking glass across her face during an altercation with a limer at Shakers Restaurant and Lounge on Ariapita Avenue, on Labour Day, last year, is now suing her alleged attacker.

Zuluaga, 29, of Cascade Road, Cascade, Port-of-Spain, filed the lawsuit at the Port-of-Spain High Court on January 16, seeking damages for the injuries she allegedly sustained at the hands of businessman Kirk Rowane.

In the claim filed by attorney Dereck Balliram on behalf of advocate lawyer Om Lalla, Zuluaga is claiming damages for “assault and battery, personal injuries, and consequential loss and expenses together with aggravated damages.”

According to Zuluaga’s lawyers, she sustained the injuries when the defendant intentionally harassed, assaulted, attacked and struck the claimant on her face and head with a drinking glass on June 19, 2008.

Zuluaga’s suit also claims that the defendant humiliated and insulted her by accusing her of being a prostitute, and then asked her the cost of such services.

In a criminal trial before Magistrate Maureen Baboolal-Gafoor in the Port-of-Spain Fifth Court, Rowane, of Hillsborough, Maraval, is charged with unlawfully and maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm on Zuluaga, in contravention of Section 14 of the Offences Against the Person Act.

The trial against Rowane failed to start yesterday although the prosecution stated its readiness to begin the matter.

Attorney Michelle Solomon, who is prosecuting on a fiat granted by the Director of Public Prosecutions, said she was ready to begin the matter but told the magistrate the defence was awaiting the return of lead advocate, Gilbert Peterson, SC, who was involved in the Uff Commission of Inquiry.

This, Solomon said, was expected to last several weeks.

The trial was adjourned to April 27 for mention, when a new trial date is expected to be set.

Rowane, who operates a computer store on Stone Street, Port-of-Spain, is on $35,000 bail.

The charge, dated June 23, 2008, was laid by PC Annan Jugoon of the Woodbrook Police Station.

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Colombian fashion designer Alejandra Zuluaga.

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Businessman Kirk Rowane.

Guyanese held in tree-raid denied bail



Wednesday, January 28 2009(T&T Newsday)



A Guyanese man, arrested Monday during a raid on some trees off the Beetham Highway in Sea lots, was yesterday denied bail when he stood before a Port-of-Spain magistrate charged with the possession of cocaine.

Clevedale Lamb, 37, of no fixed place of abode, yesterday pleaded “not guilty” when he stood before Magistrate Andrew Stroude in the Port-of-Spain Tenth Court. The accused also pleaded “not guilty” to having an illicit device for the use of cocaine.

He was arrested during an operation led by Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of Anti-Crime Operations, Raymond Craig, targeting suspects hiding in the trees close to the Lighthouse, and believed to be responsible for a spate of robberies against unsuspecting motorists.

Four others were also arrested during the exercise, and were held for questioning surrounding the reports of robberies.

At the hearing yesterday, Lamb was denied bail after a criminal record of the accused showed that he had been previously arrested for cocaine possession last year.

The matter was adjourned to February 6.

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ACCUSED: Clevedale Lamb

Court moves to Barataria



By Onika James Thursday, February 12 2009(T&T Newsday)



The scene of a double murder was re-created yesterday in Barataria, as the Jury in the murder trial of Garvin “Beam” Sookram, and Keron “Bellies” Lopez, was taken to Granado Street, Sawmill Avenue, where the killings occurred July 28, 2004.

Under searing heat from the mid-morning sun a police-led convoy rolled in with judicial officers, the jury, the accused and the media, while a curious crowd gathered at the entrance of Sawmill Avenue.

At 9:55 am the Jury gathered on the narrow street as residents peered through spaces in their window curtains.

Guarded by heavily armed police Justice Joan Charles, court staff, the jury, and attorneys made their way to a track on the right side of Granado Street. The track was the site where the bodies of Kerwyn “Richie Rich” Hinds, and Kerwin “Ox” Cyrus were found on the evening of July, 28, 2004. Both men were brutally shot, and killed sometime after 6 pm that day. Their demise was allegedly witnessed by Sean Quamina, who told police he saw the men “got killed,” while sitting in his car at the end of the track.

The prosecution led by Kathy-Ann Waterman-Latchoo, had a car similar to the one driven by Quamina on the night of the murders, parked at the end of a track. A police officer was made to position the vehicle, similarly to the way Quamina’s car appeared in pictorial evidence being used in the case.

The defence was not pleased, and the officer was made to re-position the vehicle.

State witness Quamina, guarded by a bullet proof vest then emerged from a heavily tinted police jeep, with three police officers protecting him. Quamina, is the State’s sole eye witness. The two handcuffed accused Sookram, and Lopez were led to the track, and made to stand, and watch the proceedings. Prosecutor Waterman-Latchoo asked Quamina, if “the car was similar to the one he was driving.” Quamina answered “yes.”

The State witness was then made to sit in the car just as he did on the night he allegedly witnessed the killings.

“Mr Quamina,” Waterman-Latchoo said, “tell us what can you see when you sit in the car?” Quamina explained that he “could see everything in the track, including the officers who were standing with the accused.”

Each member of the Jury was then made to sit in the car, and look down the track where the men were killed.

Quamina told the court he “remembered most of the surroundings being the same, except for the absence of a small shop, and a building which was not there before.

Earlier in the trial, Quamina told the court, he “saw the men (Sookram, Lopez, Hinds, and Cyrus) walking through the track coming towards him.”

Waterman-Latchoo requested that Quamina be taken into the track to retrace the steps of the men that night. Quamina made his way from the track holding a white wash rag to his face. His face appeared flushed as if he was crying.

The court asked the defence attorneys, Senior Counsel Pamela Elder, and Osborne Charles, if they wanted to respond, or question the witness. Elder replied, “the defence does not agree with the position of the car, and so will not be participating.”

The court then instructed that Quamina take them to Sookram’s home on Sawmill Avenue. At the front of Sookram’s home Quamina recalled that “he parked his car in the yard.” He said he “later moved it, and parked it on the road where he washed it.”

When asked if anything had change about the surroundings the witness replied, “only this fence is painted differently (orange and white) now but everything else is the same.”

The court then moved to the home where Quamina said he “ran into after he saw the men killed.”

The trial continues in the Port-of-Spain Fifth Assizes 9 am today.



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COLLAPSE: Hema Sundarsingh, a member of the prosecution team is carried by a policeman to a police vehicle after she fainted yesterday, while a High Court judge, jury, lawyers and two accused men, visited the scene of a 2004 double murder in Granado Street, Sawmill Avenue, Barataria.

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AT THE SCENE OF THE CRIME: Murder accused Garvin "Beam" Sookram, and Keron "Bellies" Lopez are led through Sawmill Avenue, Barataria yesterday. The men were taken back to the track where they allegedly shot, and killed Kerwin "Richie Rich" Hinds, and Kerwin "Ox" Cyrus in July, 2004.

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HERE COMES THE JUDGE: Justice Joan Charles on the scene of a double homicide at Sawmill Avenue, Barataria yesterday.

Girl's relative may face charges of wasting police's time


-Gyasi Gonzales



Saturday, February 14th 2009(T&T Express)



POLICE strongly believe that a "close female relative" of "kidnap victim" Jennifer Martinez knew she was in the hands of a male relative before reporting to officers that the child had been abducted from an Arima primary school on Wednesday.

As a result she may face a charge of "wasting police's time."

According to reports, Martinez, seven, was taken by a man who came to the girl's Arima Centenary Government School around 2 p.m. asking frantically for her. The man is reported to have told guards at the school that he was sent by the girl's mother. The girl was placed in his care. She was then seen entering a car which sped off, eye witnesses say.

The child's relative made a report to the Arima Police insisting that the child had been abducted.

Sometime on Thursday night a party of Anti Kidnapping Squad officers went to a house at Maracas Valley, St Joseph where the girl was found, "safe and sound." She was taken back to her mother.

Anti Kidnapping Squad officers are continuing investigations.

Victim still relives ordeal:


Kidnappers jailed


Francis Joseph


February 19th, 2009 (Trinidad Guardian)



Two men who kidnapped a man, threatened to kill him and then forced his wife to go to the bank to withdraw a $40,000 ransom, were each jailed for 12 years yesterday. Ricky Ramlochan, 29, and Vishwanath Kadil, 28, stood still in the dock as Justice Rajendra Narine, presiding in the Port-of-Spain First Criminal Court, imposed the sentences. Each prisoner was sentenced to 12 years for kidnapping, ten years for robbery, 12 years for false imprisonment, and four years for demanding money by menaces. But they would only serve 12 years as the sentences will run concurrently.

They were found guilty of kidnapping Ramjewan Tirbanie, a manager of the Barataria branch of the National Insurance Board (NIB) on March 17, 2003, robbing him of cash and his cell phone, falsely imprisoning him in a canefield, and demanding the ransom from his wife, Dharmatie Tirbanie. The jury found them guilty on December 22, 2008, but sentencing was postponed to yesterday. State attorney Tricia Hudlin-Cooper prosecuted. Attorneys Frank Peterson and Kirk Hogan represented the two prisoners.

The court heard that Tirbanie was awaiting transportation on the Main Road, Felicity, on March 17, 2003, when he was held up by the two accused and robbed of cash and his cell phone. He was abducted, tied up and left in a canefield for one and a half hours. During his abduction, Tirbanie was allowed to speak to his wife using his own cell phone. During that conversation, the prisoners demanded a ransom of $80,000, failing which he would be killed. After speaking to Dharmatie, the kidnappers dropped their demand to $30,000.

In an attempt to save his life, Tirbanie offered a ransom of $40,000. He spent that night with the kidnappers in a car at Usine Ste Madeline. The following day, one of the kidnappers went to Republic Bank, Princes Town, to meet Tirbanie’s wife to get the $40,000, but he was promptly arrested by the police. The other prisoner was arrested sometime later. In passing sentence, Narine pointed out that two cutlasses were used by the prisoners who made repeated threats to kill Tirbanie.

Narine said Tirbanie had been unable to carry out his job at NIB and after nearly six years, he remains traumatised at the incident. Narine said, “These are very serious offences, which are very prevalent in society at this time. Such incidents leave psychological scars, it is the worst kind of psychological trauma. After more than five and a half years, Mr. Tirbanie is still traumatised.” Although both prisoners showed no remorse during the trial, Narine still took into account their young ages and their clean record.

German woman stabbed to death



By Karl E Cupid and Indarjit Seuraj Saturday, February 21 2009 (T&T Newsday)



A South African man has been detained for questioning in the murder of German woman Claudia Maria Feldmeier, who died after being stabbed in the neck at Summerland Villas in Tobago on Thursday night.

The Ministry of National Security, in a statement yesterday, advised the man is assisting police in their investigation of the attack on Feldmeier, 45, who worked as an assistant manager and receptionist at Summerland, where she also lived. The ministry said the suspect knew Feldmeier.

Investigators said Feldmeier lived in Tobago for over four months and began working at Summerland, located at Robert Street, Bon Accord Development, just before Christmas.

They report Feldmeier had returned from a Chinese restaurant at about 6.40 pm when she was attacked and stabbed in her neck outside her apartment. She ran to a co-worker’s apartment but collapsed and died. District Medical Officer Dr Alana Quamina examined her body, which had a single stab wound to the neck, and ordered it removed to the mortuary at the Scarborough Hospital.

Before Feldmeier was attacked she was seen speaking to someone in a car, which slowed down beside her as she walked to her apartment, said sources. A South African man, who is in his 50s, was being questioned by police last evening. Police also interviewed several other persons. Feldmeier’s murder is expected to cause a stir in Germany and could affect travel by foreigners to Tobago, Deputy Head of Mission and Consul at the German Consulate Christoph Peleikis told Newsday yesterday. “Of course it will affect tourism...”

Feldmeier is from Southern Germany and her family has been informed of her death. Peleikis said the spate of murders in Trinidad and Tobago has now hit foreigners as well. He, however, remained optimistic that this latest killing was just an isolated incident and the perpetrator of the crime would soon be charged. “Tobago is a beautiful place,” he said.

Peleikis was in high praise of the local police and also confirmed a suspect has been arrested. He said if assistance was requested by the police, the consulate would not hesitate to deploy their own investigators but he maintained that local detectives were competent.

“I think they are very well equipped,” he said. As for now, he said, German lawmen would only do an investigation “on paper” as a formality. Coincidently, Feldmeier’s killing took place in the same district where Swedish couple, Oke Olsoon, 73, and Anna Sundsval, 62, were brutally chopped to death last October. They were killed in their villa at Anthony Charles Crescent, Bon Accord Development. Their murders remain unsolved.

American shot dead



By ONIKA JAMES Monday, February 23 2009 (T&T Newsday)



A 29-YEAR-OLD American man, on vacation and in Trinidad for the Carnival celebrations was shot dead yesterday morning in full view of a police officer and several others, following the “Dawn” fete on Cipriani Boulevard, Tragarete Road in Port-of-Spain.

But in a swift move, police arrested a 30 year old Canadian man and a 26-year-old British woman in connection with the shooting of the American identified by police as Leevurn Lyons. A gun and several rounds of ammunition were also seized.

According to a statement from the Ministry of National Security, the fatal shooting occurred following an argument between the three foreigners at about 8.30 am as they were leaving the fete.

It was during the heated argument that the victim, said to be a resident of California in the USA, was shot twice. Lyons was taken to the St Clair Medical Centre where he was pronounced dead-on-arrival. Police officers from the Organised Crime, Narcotics and Firearms Bureau (OCNFB) visited the scene and seized the illegal firearm. The Canadian and British nationals were at Police Headquarters up to late yesterday. Officers from the Port-of-Spain Homicide Bureau are continuing inquiries.

Police yesterday remained tightlipped as to the American man’s identity although they confirmed that his American passport was in the hands of the investigator. Police sources also said that acting Police Commissioner James Philbert was briefed about the incident. This is the second murder involving foreigners to have taken place in this country within the past three days.

On Thursday, German national Claudia Maria Feldmeier was stabbed in the neck at Summerland Villas, Roberts Street, Bon Accord in Tobago. Feldmeier, 45, worked as a manager at Summerland Villas.

Feldmeier was returning to her apartment, after buying dinner at a Chinese restaurant, around 6.40 pm when she was attacked and dealt a single stab wound to the neck. Reports said, she ran to a co-worker’s apartment but, collapsed. A South African man was detained for questioning in connection with Feldmeier’s death. He remains in custody assisting Tobago Homicide Bureau detectives.

Acting Police Commissioner, via a release from the Ministry, continued his appeal to all citizens and visitors to be “vigilant about their own personal safety for the Carnival period,” and assured the public that “the police will continue to ensure a safe Carnival 2009.” The murder toll for the year now stands at 95.

Immigration detains six foreign protestors



By Nalinee Seelal Thursday, April 16 2009(T&T Newsday)



Six professional protestors from Brazil, Colombia, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela were detained at the Piarco International Airport last evening by immigration officers who also seized their passports.

They belong to a group called “The Cry of Exclusion,” and had planned to stage demonstrations for the three day Summit of the Americas, which begins in tomorrow. Cry of Exclusion is based in Puerto Rico.

Spokesman for Cry of Exclusion, Hilda Gouverra, yesterday told Newsday in an interview from her offices in Puerto Rico, the protestors planned to voice their concern over social ills in their countries, such as poverty, unemployment and child prostitution.

Gouverra said she considered the detention an “illegal arrest” and will contact her organisation’s lawyers to seek the interests of the six detainees.

Immigration sources said late yesterday the protestors, four men and two women, were detained because they were deemed a security threat for the summit. The officials said they have the option of having the detainees returned to their countries.

They said the detainees made it clear they are professional protestors and have no intention of returning to their countries until they voice their concerns, via protests during the summit.

Acting Commissioner of Police James Philbert confirmed the detention of the six Latin Americans and also disclosed he had turned down a second application from local trade union FITUN for permission to stage a protest for social justice in Port-of-Spain on Saturday.

“We must be careful that outsiders may come here and it is not the duty of the persons who have applied to ensure other persons do not join them and create havoc. And in the best interest of national security, that is the reason why I have made my decision,” the top cop said.

On April 9, Philbert blanked FITUN’s first request as well as the applications of Rawle Raphael and Keston Boodram who also wanted to stage protests this weekend.

With all the crime in Trinidad, I am not surprised that cruise ships are now heading for Guyana and not Trinidad. Trinidad has nothing to offer tourists but more crimes. The beaches in tobago are being eroded by the sea. Soon there would be nothing but mud. .

Murder, arson charges



South Bureau



Tuesday, April 28th 2009(T&T Express)



A Freeport MAN who allegedly set the fire that burned a house and two infant sisters inside appeared in court yesterday accused of eight crimes.

Soman "Toppy" Rampersad, 35, was brought before a Chaguanas Magistrate and will reappear in court on May 8.

He is charged with murdering sisters Sangeeta, six, and Sarah Ramsingh, three. The girls died in the family home at Uquire Road, Freeport two weeks ago. Their mother, Geeta Singh, and uncle Richard Ramdial were also shot that night.

Rampersad, of Freeport, is also charged with attempted murder, wounding with intent, two charges of shooting with intent to do grievous harm, arson, and setting fire to a house knowing it was occupied.

Members of the Ramdial family have been given police protection because of alleged death threats.

Woman key to 5 murders



By NALINEE SEELAL Friday, May 1 2009(T&T Newsday)



A 27-year-old woman, who was arrested by police on Wednesday, is facing at least five charges for kidnapping and murder, the latest of which is eight-year-old Leah Lammy.

Yesterday police took a long statement from the woman in whose house a silver chain belonging to another kidnap victim Sally Lobai was found.

The police believe they have uncovered a bizarre case of serial killings in which the five victims, all women or young girls, lived in Central Trinidad.

Investigators said the woman’s involvement in the case could provide them with information about the deaths of Devika Lalman and Susan Phagoo and the disappearance of Leah Lammy, Sally Lobai and Riana Parag.

Investigators yesterday said they believe the last three victims are dead and the woman was key to helping them find their graves.

The woman, a store clerk of Felicity, was up to last night detained at the Region Two Homicide Bureau in Arouca, where she was quizzed by ASPs Johnny Abraham and Stanley Ramdeen, the lead investigators into the kidnappings and murders.

Police made the link between the murders and kidnappings during their ongoing investigation of the disappearance of Leah. Leah, a student of Edinburgh Government Primary School, went missing on February 10 when she got into a PH car to go home after classes.

Investigators went to the woman’s home in Felicity on Wednesday evening to question her about the case, after searching the canefields of Warrenville and Felicity earlier that day for Leah’s body.

During a search of the woman’s house they found a chain that belonged to Sally, 26, who went missing the day after Leah disappeared. Sally was last seen getting into a PH taxi at Longdenville. The woman was arrested and taken into custody.

Police contacted Sally’s boyfriend who identified the chain as the one he bought for her at Trincity Mall. Investigators took Sally’s boyfriend to the mall and he led them to the store where he bought the chain.

Under police interrogation yesterday the woman began to provide information not only about Leah and Sally but also about Devika Lalman, Susan Phagoo and Riana Parag.

Devika, 15, was found dead in a rice field at Warrenville on January 4. Then came the discovery, on March 6, of the body of Susan, a Plipdeco clerk. The 28-year-old woman was found wrapped in a plastic bag at Waterloo. Riana, 18, was last seen on December 16, 2008, when she boarded a PH taxi at Busy Corner, Chaguanas.

Based on the woman’s statement, police believe she had an accomplice who operated as a PH driver to lure the woman and girls as passengers. They were then kidnapped, robbed and killed.

As a result of the information the woman has provided, police have reclassified the kidnappings as homicides. Investigators are expected to receive directions today from Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Carla Brown-Antoine.

Even though the police believe his daughter is dead, Sally’s father Francis Lobai held on to a slim chance that she may be alive. Yesterday marked 79 days since his daughter went missing.

“Now that the police find her chain and they have a woman in custody, I feel that my daughter will be found,” said Francis.

Speaking to Newsday from his home at New Oropune Village, Piarco, Francis said he calls his daughter’s cellphone every day with no response.

“I hope and pray that Sally is alive,” he said, as tears streamed down his face.

Sally left home on February 11, telling her father she was going to Longdenville for a job interview. When she failed to return home, her father received a phone call from a man who demanded a $300,000 ransom for Sally.

Last night, Gale Lammy, the mother of Leah, said the police told her yesterday they expect to make a breakthrough in her daughter’s case.

“I am confident that Leah is alive somewhere, and I am praying that my baby is found so that I can hug her and never let her go,” said Gale.

Venezuelan guilty of ATM fraud



By INDARJIT SEURAJ Friday, May 1 2009(T&T Newsday)



A series of thefts via the Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) at banks across the country was broken one week ago, when Fraud Squad officers arrested a Venezuelan national in the middle of an illegal transaction.

Jose Isidro Murillo yesterday pleaded guilty to stealing a total of $93,660 from four different branches of the RBTT Bank.

Murillo entered the pleas before Magistrate Gillian David in the Port-of-Spain First Court, after prosecutor Insp Surrendra Sagramsingh informed the court that he had received instructions to deal with the matter summarily.

Murillo was also charged together with Colombian born Flora Gloria Hurtado Gongora and Grenadian born Henry Thomas with defrauding the institution of $20,100.

Murillo pleaded guilty to those three charges, while the other two accused maintained their innocence.

Pedro Centeno interpreted and translated both for the Court and for Murillo.

The accused were arrested on April 24, at RBTT’s ATM on Four Roads, Diego Martin, close to the Starlite Shopping Plaza.

Gongora, a mother of three, of Abe Poujade Street, Carenage, and Thomas, of Laventille, were each granted $80,000 bail, with a surety and to be approved by the Clerk of the Peace.

Gongora was also ordered to surrender her passport to the court, and report to the Carenage Police Station on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays between the hours of 6 am and 6 pm.

Thomas, meantime, was told to report to the Besson Street Police Station on Saturdays.

Both Gongora and Thomas were told to return to court on May 11.

According to the Fraud Squad detective PC Popan, on different occasions between March 27 and March 29, Murillo stole $93,660 from different RBTT ATMs.

At RBTT Four Roads, Diego Martin branch, he admitted stealing $37,500 and then $17,100 at the bank’s San Juan branch. He also admitted to stealing $14,700 at RBTT High Street, San Fernando.

In heists at RBTT’s West Mall branch, Murillo stole $24,360. He was arrested during a sting operation by Fraud Squad detectives, last Friday.

He was denied bail and ordered back in court on May 11 for sentencing.

The San Fernando charge was transferred to the San Fernando Magistrates’ Court where he will appear on May 14.

Investigators were also liaising with Interpol to determine the true nationalities of Gongora and Thomas.

Security for postmen



By RHONDOR DOWLAT Saturday, May 2 2009(T&T Newsday)



TTPOST will now provide its delivery staff with security escort from private security firms and where possible, the police, in a bid to clamp down on a spate of armed robberies of postmen and women while they deliver the mail.

TTPost has admitted that over the past three to four years there has been a recorded increase in attempts to rob its Delivery Officers of senior Citizens Grant Cheques. According to TTPost Marketing Manager, Devon Phillip, TTPost has employed a range of precautionary measures all using the corporation’s own vehicles.

“These escorts are usually in high-risk areas across the country, and are meant to safeguard pensioners’ cheques and reduce, if not eliminate, the risks to its employees. The Corporation has an employee assistance programme and offers EAP counselling through Petrotrin EAP Services Limited,” Phillip said. With regard to encashment of cheques, keeping in mind the numerous cheques that were stolen over the past months, TTPost claimed that it is working with the Ministry of Social Development to conduct Public Education Programmes prohibiting the practice of encashment of cheques at supermarkets and groceries, and encouraging persons to honour the cheques at banks only.

“The Ministry has published advertisements via the print media informing the public about the legal procedures, which must be observed when cashing Social Welfare Cheques,” Phillip said.

TTPost also reminded business operators that it is against the law to cash Senior Citizen’s Cheques to anyone other than the recipient whose name is on the cheque and stated that cheques cashed by nominees at businesses will not be honoured for remittance by the Central Bank.

The latest incident of pension cheques being stolen occurred on Wednesday at about 12.55 pm in the Tunapuna area.

According to a police report, a postwoman was at Fairley and Green Streets when she was held up and robbed of $78,000 worth in pension cheques.

MURDER OF ‘BALO’ MAHARAJ


US holds court in Trinidad


Francis Joseph


Published: May 5, 2009(Trinidad Guardian)



The trial of seven Trinidadians in Washington DC for the kidnap/murder of US citizen, Balram “Balo” Maharaj shifts to Trinidad this week to take evidence from eight to ten witnesses who cannot travel to the US for the case, expected to start on May 26. Lawyers for both the prosecution and defence, as well as their investigators, arrived in the country over the weekend for the Trinidad leg of the trial. The Guardian was reliably informed that lawyers representing the seven Trinidadians are here, along with their investigators. The US Government is represented by a three member team.

The only person missing from the line up is Judge John Bates, who will preside over the trial, expected to last six weeks at the E Barrett Prettyman Courthouse, US District Court for the District of Columbia, Washington DC. The local witnesses will give their evidence-in-chief and will be cross examined by the defence lawyers. This will be video-taped and will be shown to the jury at the appropriate time in the Washington court.

These witnesses, for some reason, cannot travel to the US to give evidence. So, the court decided to sit in Trinidad, take the evidence of the witnesses and have it fully ventilated in the US. The court is being held at a secret location in Port-of-Spain, the Guardian was informed. When the testimony of the witnesses has been completed, the parties will return to Washington and prepare for the start of the trial, with selection of the jury.

The seven accused are: Army Corporal Ricardo De Four, Zion Clarke, Kevon Demerieux, Anthony Straker, Wayne Pierre, Christopher Sealey, and Kevin Nixon. Four other Trinidadians pleaded guilty, Army Sgt Leon Nurse, Jason Percival, Russel “Saucy” Joseph, and Winston Gittens. The Guardian learnt that Nurse and Percival, a former soldier, will be two of the main witnesses for the US Government, having struck a deal with the prosecution, but they also face a prison term, despite the deal and the guilty plea. Five of the accused, who filed a motion to suppress evidence, lost last week. In a 51-page ruling dated April 28, Judge Bates dismissed their claim and ordered them to stand trial.

Straker and Nixon wanted to suppress out of court photographic identifications made by one of the alleged co-conspirators, Russel Joseph. Clarke wanted to suppress three statements he made to the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) during interviews in Trinidad and during his extradition to the US, as well as one statement he gave to the Trinidad police. De Four and Demerieux wanted to suppress statements they made to the Trinidad police. Demerieux tried to suppress a statement he made to the FBI while being interviewed in Trinidad.

Maharaj, a Trinidadian, was kidnapped outside the Samaan Tree Bar in Aranguez on April 5, 2005. A ransom of $3 million was demanded. No money was paid and Maharaj was never seen alive again. On January 8, 2006, his body was found in parts in two containers in the Santa Cruz forest. As a result, 11 persons including Maharaj’s former common-law wife, Doreen Alexander-Durity, were arrested and charged and committed to stand trial at the Assizes. Eight of these have been extradited to the US, leaving just three to face trial at the Port-of-Spain Assizes.

Cops arrest third suspect



By RHONDOR DOWLAT Saturday, May 9 2009(T&T Newsday)



POLICE are now questioning a third suspect in connection with the kidnappings, robberies and possible murders of several women from central Trinidad.

The suspect, a PH taxi driver, has been linked to the discovery of jewelry which police believe belonged to several women who have disappeared over the past months, including Sally Lobai, 26, of Oropune Village, Piarco.

On Tuesday, woman suspect Samantha Persad, 27, appeared before Senior Magistrate Nannette Forde-John in the Chaguanas Magistrates’ Court charged with receiving stolen jewelry belonging to Lobai and murder victim Gail Durity, 19, of Enterprise. Persad is currently out on $25,000 bail to re-appear in court on May 15.

The taxi driver, who is of African descent and has a dreadlock hairstyle, is sharing information with the police about Lobai, Durity and another murder victim Devika Lalman, 15. Investigators said this latest suspect, who remained in police custody last evening, has shed light on a ring of criminals who target young women. They said the man may know the location where Lobai, who is presumed dead, was taken to when she went missing.

Lobai disappeared on February 11, one day after eight-year-old Leah Lammy also went missing after she left Edinburgh Government Primary School.Yesterday, Salis Mack, 35, made his third appearance before Forde-John on the charge of kidnapping Leah and for stealing her cellphone. Forde-John called the matter at about 9.45 am and adjourned it to May 18.

Immediately after the hearing, Mack was handcuffed and escorted under heavy guard to a police vehicle where he was taken from the court to the nearby Chaguanas Police Station.

After about 90 minutes at the station, ace homicide detectives Assistant Superintendents Johnny Abraham and Stanley Ramdeen placed Mack into a vehicle and left with him. It is unknown where they went but sources said Mack, a PH driver, took the police to several locations in central Trinidad. They returned to the station last evening and Mack was taken back to the Maximum Security Prison in Arouca.

Police said Mack too has been sharing information about the Lobai, Durity and Lalman cases. Investigators had hoped to lay charges yesterday against a key suspect for Durity and Lalman’s murders, but are pursuing new leads based on what they learned from the third suspect and Mack.

It was at about 1.30 pm, when a convoy of seven police vehicles left the Chaguanas Police Station to conduct searches in several areas in Central in connection with these cases and other reports of missing women and possible murders. Among the victims are Riana Parag, who remains missing and Susan Phagoo, whose body was found earlier this year.

The convoy of a Tucson SUV, two heavily tinted silver Almeras, a panel van and three marked police vehicles sped off from the back entrance of the station to a back road which leads to Factory Road and Chandanagore Link Road. A similar convoy of reporters and television news crews, who had turned out to cover Mack’s court case, followed the police, but were stopped by Inter-Agency Task Force officers in one of the vehicles.

The officers questioned two news teams about where they were going along Factory Road, which takes commuters from the outskirts of Chaguanas to the Old Southern Main Road in Edinburgh.

The police also asked members of the teams for their media passes, driver’s permits and insurance certificates.

One reporter asked the police why they were pulled over and the officer replied: “We found it strange that you all were driving along the road behind us and this is a normal traffic check.”

The reporter informed the police the teams were on assignment. After the police left, the teams got wind of a search taking place at a canefield in Warrenville and went there but found no one.

Later, sources said the police convoy returned to the Chaguanas station. More searches are expected to be undertaken this weekend.

SILAS MACK avoids media photographers as police lead him to the Chaguanas Magistrates' Court yesterday for his third appearance in the kidnapping of eight-year-old Leah Lammy.


Mack who first went to court on the charge on March 3, is assisting police in their investigation of the disappearance and possible murders of several womenfrom Central Trinidad.


I WANT A DEAL


Salis Mack meets with police investigators:


Richard Charan South Bureau



Saturday, May 9th 2009(T&T Express)



Child kidnap accused Salis Mack-the man police have instructions to charge with the murders of two teenage girls asked his lawyer yesterday to help him cut a deal that would guarantee the safety of his girlfriend and parents.

Mack met with his lawyer, Victor Hosein, in a room at the Central Division Police headquarters, shortly after he reappeared in the Chaguanas Magistrates' Court, charged with the February 10 kidnapping and robbery of still missing eight-year-old girl Leah Lammy.

Hosein said last night, "The police made arrangements for us to meet. He (Mack) wants a 'Levi Morris', and he is not prepared to talk unless he gets a guarantee (about) his family, his girlfriend. I told him only the DPP can do this."

Morris, one of the men charged with the quadruple Williamsville murders of the Baboolal family, pleaded guilty to the charges in 1996 and testified against Dole Chadee and his gang of eight, leading to their convictions. He subsequently received a presidential pardon, and he and his immediate family were relocated under the witness protection programme to the United States where he now lives under a new identity.

Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Carla Brown-Antoine, on Monday, gave the police instructions to charge Mack, 33, with the murders of 15-year-old Devika Lalman and 19-year-old Gail Durity.

Lalman's body was found in a Warrenville, Cunupia, ricefield on January 3, days after she went missing during a shopping trip into Chaguanas.

Durity's body was found in a Manzanilla coconut estate back in June 2008, the day after she left her Dass Trace, Enterprise, home.

Mack's lover, Samantha Persad, 21, was taken to court on Tuesday, charged with having the stolen jewelry belonging to Durity, and the stolen jewelry belonging to 25-year-old Sally Lobai, who disappeared on February 11 in Chaguanas and was never found.

Based on a meeting with Mack, homicide and Anti-Kidnapping Squad investigators went to several parts of Chaguanas yesterday.

There were also reports last night that another "PH" driver was in custody, assisting police in solving the cases of other missing women.

The families of the murdered women had gone to court yesterday to sit in on the cases.

But, instead, Mack was taken from the court after the kidnapping hearing where investigators-assistant police superintendents Johnny Abraham and Stanley Ramdeen-hoped to speak with him.

Many expected Mack to be slapped with the murder charges ordered by the Acting Director of Public Prosecutions. The charges will be laid next week, the Express was told. Persad, who appeared in court on Monday, is out on $25,000 bail.

Both Mack and Persad will reappear in court next Friday.

-reporting by Nikita Braxton

Pregnant woman among 60 held in police raid

-CK


Sunday, May 10th 2009(Trinidad Express)



A woman who told police she would give birth at any time is expected to appear in court tomorrow charged with possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.

The pregnant woman was among 60 people arrested during a police raid throughout the South Western Division yesterday.

She was allowed to take along a bag of clothing, police said.

The officers went to the woman's house a Latchoos Road, Penal where they found 74 packets of cocaine.

The raid was spearheaded by Woman Inspector Archie and included Sergeants Subero and Granger, Corporals Cory and Jagroop and police constables Gookool, Khan and Jones.

Others were arrested throughout the division on outstanding warrants, narcotics and robberies.

In an unrelated incident, police were last night searching for four men who were reportedly terrorising residents of Coora Road, Siparia. Around 5.20 a.m. two men were seated in a car along Coora Road when they spotted four masked men walking towards their vehicle.

One of the masked men pulled out a shotgun and began shooting at the car. The occupants ran out of the vehicle and escaped. Police refused to reveal their identities yesterday. They said the masked men were suspected in a string of robberies in the area.

Dead witnesses to speak



By ANDRE BAGOO Monday, May 11 2009(T&T Newsday)



GOVERNMENT will tomorrow unveil new legislation which makes provision for the use of video taped statements of witnesses who have been killed before trial, to be shown to juries and which also introduces far reaching changes to the criminal justice system.

Two bills, namely the Evidence (Amendment) Bill and the Evidence (Amendment) (No 2) Bill will be tabled by Attorney General Bridgid Annisette-George in the Senate and are expected to trigger national debate over the role of the courts in the fight against crime.

Among the changes proposed by the legislation, copies of which have been obtained by Newsday, are:

new provisions for the admissibility of video and audio recordings of witness statements;

abolition of common-law rules which prevent juries from learning of the criminal histories of accused persons before they reach a verdict;

new measures to deal with the problem of fearful witnesses “forgetting” their evidence in court and re-introduction of a previously abolished law to aid with prosecuting persons accused of rape.

The legislation will be tabled and published tomorrow and is expected to be debated next week.

It has already been subject to behind-the-scenes consultations with the Law Association which will this week complete a report on findings for submission to the Attorney General.

The first bill seeks to amend the Evidence Act. It proposes to make provision for the admissibility of video or audio recordings of statements made by prosecution and defence witnesses and even the accused.

Clause 7 proposes to make such recordings admissible when “it is in the interest of justice for the video or audio recording to be admitted”. The provisions are open enough to allow the video-recordings of statements of witnesses who are killed before trial, lawyers said yesterday. The use of videotape or audio technology is not alien to the courts. Video-tape conferencing is frequently used in both civil and criminal courts.

Additionally in April, Justice Mark Mohammed allowed the written transcript of an audio-recording of a dead witness to be placed before a jury as evidence in chief. Yesterday, Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Carla Brown-Antoine noted that while the development of the common-law may leave the use of video-taped witness statements in court open, the new law could be a means of standardising the use of such evidence.

“It could standardise the conditions in which video evidence is used,” she said.

The laws also allow for the use of statements given by recalcitrant or reluctant witnesses to police. Currently such statements are admissible as a matter relevant to the credibility of a witness who back-tracks in the middle of a trial.

The changes would effectively allow the statements to be regarded as the witness’ testimony itself. Additionally, while written statements of witnesses who are fearful to testify are admissible in courts in certain circumstances, the new laws would widen those circumstances.

Clause 5 of the first bill also calls for the repealing of common-rules which limit how much a jury can know of an accused person’s “bad character”, particularly any past criminal convictions. The bill requires a special three-fifths majority.

The second bill will deal with cases of sexual offences. It will attempt to revive a doctrine long abolished which allowed certain hearsay accounts of a victim’s complaints of a criminal act to be admissible in court.

The new laws will be tabled at a time when the murder toll is approaching 200.

Yet, some are already questioning how effective the legislation will be in the fight against crime, especially given the lack of enforcement of older laws.

“We will be making the point that care has to be taken when amending existing laws when the record of enforcement of existing legislation has been poor,” Law Association president Martin Daly said yesterday of the Association’s expected report.

Former attorney general Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj said, “I do not think that there is a necessity to amend the law in order to fight crime. What we really need is administrative reform and more aggressive crime detection.”

Court hears of ‘Bread in the oven’ — kidnap
victim captured



By ONIKA JAMES Tuesday, May 12 2009 (T&T Newsday)



San Juan businesswoman Samdaye Rampersad, 48, was “tied like an animal” on the back of an open tray van on November 26, 2005 as her kidnappers took her to be killed, and later buried in a wild cashew field in Claxton Bay.

Prior to being killed, one of her kidnappers, accused Vivian Clarke, who at the time had two guns, and had planned the transport reported to one of his colleagues “the bread is in the oven,” meaning that the victim had been captured. This was part of the gruesome evidence told to the court yesterday by State witness, Nigel Rodrique, also called “Super Cat.”

Rodrique, who subsequently turned State witness, testified in the Port-of-Spain Second Assizes, before Justice Rajendra Narine, and a 12 member jury. He gave the names of those involved, as well as the dates and time the “plot to hold the Indian woman” was made at a place called “The Wall” in Claxton Bay.

The prosecution’s key witness also testified that, he witnessed Rampersad’s “beating,” and subsequent “death,” before her eventual burial. Nine men are accused of kidnapping and killing, Rampersad.

They are: Phillip Boodram, of Fifth Street, New Settlement, Dow Village, California; Kervin Williams, of Southern Main Road, Pranz Gardens, Claxton Bay; Vivian Clarke, of Production Lane, Sea Lots; Marlon Aaron Grappie, of Pranz Gardens; Steve Mc Gillvery, of Pioneer Drive, Sea Lots; Ricky Singh, of Cedar Hill Road, Claxton Bay; Roger Mootoo, of Springvale Village, Claxton Bay; Bobby Sankar, of Bacchus Street, Claxton Bay; and Pernell Martin, of Gobinson Trace, Tunapuna Road, Tunapuna.

It is alleged that the nine accused murdered Rampersad sometime between November 25, 2005, and January 6, 2006. During his evidence in-chief, Rodrique named all nine accused in his gruesome account of the planning, and killing of Rampersad.

“On November 25, 2005, Nigel (not before the court), Vivian Clarke aka “Clarkie” (accused #3), and myself went down to Pranz Gardens, Claxton Bay. We went to a place called “The Wall” where we met Marlon Aaron Grappie, aka “Kenna/ Pac Pac ” (accused #4). We arrived just after 5 pm. While waiting Kervin Williams aka “Arch Eye” (accused #2) came out. We then saw a car coming. We were about to run, but realised that it was Boodram “The Boss” (accused #1). I had known him for about 17 years or more.

“The Boss asked for Rishi. When Rishi came, he (The Boss) told Rishi to go and bring the things from the bucket. The Boss began telling us about this man named Rampersad. He said, he gave Rampersad $900,000 worth of cocaine to carry to England, but the man playing games.

“He (The Boss) said, the man’s (Rampersad) mother had a shop, and he wanted us to hold the lady. He described the lady as a short, thick, fat Indian lady. He said, she sold a little underhand liquor, and had a lime in front of her shop. Rishi returned. At the same time Nigel asked the boss if the lady had a name. The boss said, he did not know. Rishi had five guns in his hand two spin barrels, two with magazines, and one long one strapped across his back. The meeting went on pause.

“The Boss distributed the guns. He gave Clarkie, and Kenna two guns each. He told Rishi to carry back the big gun with the strap. He said, that gun was too big to carry in town. Kenna was playing with one of the guns he got. The boss told him not to play with the gun because it was loaded.

“The Boss told us, bring the lady straight to him, and he did not want anything to happen to her. The Boss said Clarkie, and Grappie, aka “Kenna/Pac Pac” they would handle the transport because the car which we were using was known in town. We were trying to brakes from police roadblocks so we passed through Phoenix Park to go back. Clarkie said, the woman was to be held that same Friday night. “He (Clarkie) told me, when he called and said “the bread was in the oven,” that meant that they had the woman.”

The case resumes today at 9 am.


TOOL MAN: Roger Mootoo, allegedly choked victim with a lace from his hair, and brought the shovel to help bury her.


ORDERED KIDNAPPING:Phillip Boodram-The Boss - alleged to have ordered the kidnapping of Samdaye Rampersad.


BREAD IN THE OVEN: Vivian Clarke, who allegedly received two guns and called to say "the bread was in the oven" which meant they had kidnapped Rampersad.

“The Boss asked for Rishi. When Rishi came, he (The Boss) told Rishi to go and bring the things from the bucket. The Boss began telling us about this man named Rampersad. He said, he gave Rampersad $900,000 worth of cocaine to carry to England, but the man playing games.........Quote.



I am very interested in hearing what Kidmost has to say about this, everyone in T&T knows that drugs and car stealing racket is closely related to the "kidnapping" trade.

ATF to trace Trini guns



By SEAN DOUGLAS Friday, May 15 2009 (T&T Newsday)



NATIONAL Security Minister Martin Joseph said police will be able learn the origin of illegal guns in TT with the help of the US Government’s Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF).

He announced a joint US Caricom initiative to combat the illicit trade in small weapons yesterday at a post Cabinet media conference. He was confident such technology could help reduce crime, even as the murder rate reached 200 plus for the year.

Joseph said the Acting Commissioner of Police would soon sign an agreement with the ATF for their “E-Trace” computer service to be used by local police. Gun trafficking patterns would also be identified through the e-trace, he said. Some 300,000 traces has been done last year, Joseph added.

He named many Caribbean countries which have already contracted the ATF to access the e-trace system. He later told Newsday the Caribbean is covered by the Regional Integrated Ballistics Information Network (RIBIN), while the US network is known as NIBIN, and the Canadian system is called CIBIN.

Asked about the high murder rate, he replied, “I still maintain that at the end of the year, we will not be as bad as last year.

'Smiling' Samantha in court



...Mob tries to grab accused



Richard Charan


Wednesday, May 6th 2009


http://www.trinidadexpress.com...article?id=161473936
under cover: Samantha Persad, centre, hides her face with her hair as she is escorted to the Chaguanas Magistrates' Court yesterday.



Samantha Persad smiled and giggled during her court appearance yesterday, charged with having the stolen jewelry of two women one murdered, the other missing and feared dead.

Persad, a 21 year old clothing store clerk, is the lover of Salis Mack the man who police have instructions to charge with two murders when he comes to court on Friday.

Mack is accused of kidnapping and robbing still-missing eight-year-old Leah Lammy.

Persad, of Lyle Lane, Felicity, Chaguanas, was arrested during a police search of her home last Wednesday.

She is charged with receiving a silver chain and a heart shaped silver pendant valued at $150 and belonging to Sally Lobai sometime between February 11 and last Wednesday, knowing them to be stolen.

She is also charged with receiving two silver chains-belonging to Gail Durity sometime between June 1 last year and last Wednesday. The chains are valued at $200.

Lobai, 25, disappeared on February 11, after travelling to Londgenville, Chaguanas, for a job interview in which she secured the position. She was never seen again.

Durity, 19, of Dass Trace, Enterprise, was last seen by her family the night of June 1, when she hired a "PH" taxi to take her to her sister's home in Freeport.

She was found chopped, slashed, battered and strangled in a Manzanilla coconut plantation the following day.

Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Carla Brown Antoine, has instructed that Mack, 35, be charged with the murder of Durity, and of 15 year old Devika Lalman, who travelled to Chaguanas last December 30, and was found battered to death in a Warrenville rice field.

A crowd was at the Chaguanas Magistrates' Court, waiting, when Persad arrived from the Arouca Police Station.

The mob, of mostly women, cursed and spat and reached out to snatch Persad as she was walked to the court.

They were warded off by police officers.

The crowd never got to see Persad's face, which was hidden behind a tangle of hair.

The crowd chased from the court a group of women they accused of being relatives of Mack and Persad.

Persad's treatment was similar to what Mack endured when he first appeared at the Chaguanas court, charged with kidnapping Lammy and stealing her cellphone.

Lammy vanished on February 10.

Persad's court appearance was brief. Persad was represented by attorney Nalini Bansee, the junior of attorney Ravi Rajcoomar. Bansee asked for the disclosure of the State's evidence.

The police did not object to bail.

Persad was freed on $25,000 bail and told to return to court on May 15.

Police said she wept quietly while sitting in the holding cells, waiting for her bail to be approved. She was smiling again when relatives bundled her into a car and sped away.

Corporal Alexis Garcia laid charges.

Two Guyanese found dead in Felicity dump



Published: May 18, 2009(Trinidad Guardian)



Anguished relatives consoled each other yesterday after being told that two young Guyanese men were found murdered in central Trinidad. The bodies of 28-year-old Narad Sookoo and 22-year-old Vinod Dubay, of Dookiesingh Street, in St Augustine, were discovered at an abandoned dump in Felicity around 9 am.

A call was transmitted to E-999 Division and officers who responded found the bodies partially submerged in a swamp. The men were initially reported kidnapped, police said. Police said Sookoo and Dubay, who came from Guyana, and were staying with relatives in St Augustine, worked at a construction site mere metres away from their home. It was while working at the same site, that Sookoo and Dubay were snatched by armed assailants around 6 pm on Saturday.

Police said three men in a heavily-tinted car pulled up at the site, bundled the Guyanese nationals into the car and drove off.

As police officers broke the news to relatives, loud wails shattered the serenity of the afternoon.

Up to late yesterday, police were exploring several leads, including that the killings may have been drug-related. Insp Nelson, acting Sgt Katwaroo and PCs Grant and Thomas of the St Joseph CID are continuing investigations. Meanwhile, Northern Division officers are probing the shooting of Gerald Hoyte of Maturita Avenue early yesterday morning. Police said Hoyte was driving a black Mitsubishi Galant along Pinto Road in Arima around 1.20 am when a white Nissan Almera car pulled alongside.

One of the occupants in the Almera fired several shots, hitting Hoyte. He was taken to the Arima Health Facility and later transferred to the Mt Hope Medical Sciences Complex where he was listed in serious condition.


http://www.trinidadexpress.com...le_news?id=161478772


http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,100339.html

Kidnapped Guyanese Workers found dead in Trinidad

Posted By Administrator On May 18, 2009 @ 5:17 am In Local News, Regional News | 2 Comments

-Bodies dumped in river
(TRINIDAD EXPRESS) IN A SCENE that bore resemblance to that of a mafia movie, two construction workers were found dead in the Felicity River.

Narad Sookoo, 29, and Tameshwar Doobay, 22, both Guyanese nationals living in St Augustine, were at their worksite at around 4 p.m. on Saturday when two cars pulled up alongside the site.

A group of men emerged from the cars and called across the two men.

A heated discussion followed and the two men were bound by the group of men and bundled into one of the vehicles.

Relatives of the men got word of the incident and made a report to St Joseph Police.

Any hope of finding the men alive ended yesterday when residents of Felicity made a report to Chaguanas police yesterday at around 9.30 a.m. about the discovery of two lifeless male bodies floating in the river just off Shipping Road.

The bodies were confirmed by relatives to be those of the two construction workers.

All their clothing was intact with the exception of their missing shoes.

Police said their bodies did not have any marks of violence, but suspect foul play in their drowning.

Southern Bureau homicide is continuing investigations into the death of the men.



Article printed from Stabroek News: http://www.stabroeknews.com

URL to article: http://www.stabroeknews.com/20...nd-dead-in-trinidad/

Guyanese are well known in the drug trade, ask Jags.

T&T, US sign firearms MOU



Published: 20 May 2009(Trinidad Guardian)




Acting Police Commissioner James Philbert and John Ries, Charge D’Affaires at the US Embassy hold a signed memorandum of understanding with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) of the US Justice Department to provide access and utilisation of e-Trace services. PHOTO: MARCUS GONZALES



Describing the influx of illegal firearms into T&T as “enormous”, acting Police Commissioner James Philbert yesterday signed an agreement with the US to combat arms trafficking. Philbert and John Ries, charge d’affaires at the US Embassy in Port-of-Spain, signed a policy agreement with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) of the US Justice Department to provide access and utilisation of e-Trace services.

The signing took place at the National Security building, Abercromby Street, Port-of-Spain. T&T was the 28th country to sign the agreement, which will comprise other Caribbean and Latin America countries. According to Philbert, e-Trace would lead the T&T Police Service “into the future” to stem the tide of rising seizures of illegal firearms and ammunition.

Philbert said police officers have seized 130 illegal firearms and 700 rounds of ammunition for the year. Last year, he said, 460 illegal firearms were taken off the streets. “We need to trace firearms and we need to know where firearms come from. We do not manufacture firearms in T&T and therefore the problem is enormous,” Philbert said.

He identified the Organised Crime, Narcotics and Firearms Bureau (OCNFB) as one of the units within the Police Service that would have access to information provided by e-Trace. “We have found a firearm used on our streets to commit crime and have traced it as coming from a theft from a pawn shop in North Carolina,” Philbert said.He assured that not only would the country benefit, but the region as well.

Describing the signing as “quite timely,” Ries said it came on the heels of the recent visit of US President Barack Obama, during the Fifth Summit of the Americas, who announced an initiative to launch a Caribbean basin of security. The signing, Ries said, was a symbol of the joint determination of T&T and the US to intercept trafficking routes in the hemisphere. “It is a pragmatic step forward, to work together towards improved security in the region.”

About e-Trace

It is a Web-based communication system which utilises the Internet to send requests to ATF for searches of firearms connected with ongoing criminal investigations, as well as firearms which are found or recovered by law enforcement officers. The e-Trace system is a paperless firearm trace submission system and trace analysis computer module that is readily accessible through a connection to the World Wide Web.

Cops to charge ‘main man’ in murder of 2 Guyanese



Published: 21 May 2009(Trinidad Guardian)



Five people, among them one businessman, are expected to face murder charges in connection with the killing of Guyanese nationals Narad Sookoo, 28, and Vinod Doobay, 22, Homicide Bureau officers probing the case said the five suspects had been under surveillance hours after the victims’ bodies were found submerged in a river at an abandoned landfill in Felicity, Chaguanas, on Sunday morning. They were both shot in the head.

The victims were taken from a construction site, mere meters from their home in St Augustine. Investigators said the incident may have stemmed from the businessman accusing Doobay and Sookoo of stealing $800. Police said they obtained warrants for the arrests of the suspects, who were expected to be taken into custody last night.

Investigators have described the businessman as “the main man” who ordered the “hit” on Sookoo and Vinod. Sookoo, who is a Hindu, is expected to be cremated today at the Caroni Cremation Site. Doobay’s relatives were up to late yesterday making arrangements to have his body taken back to Guyana.

Fugitive brought back from UK to answer drug
charges



Published: 22 May 2009(Trinidad Guardian)




English fugitive Benjamin Goodyer, who was ordered extradited from the United Kingdom to Trinidad and Tobago, arrived in Port-of-Spain last night to answer drug trafficking charges. He is expected to be taken before a high court judge this morning to face charges of trafficking in 7.5 kilos of cocaine.

Goodyer, a UK citizen, was arrested at Piarco International Airport on November 21, 2002, after some 7.5 kilos of cocaine was found in a suitcase. He was released from prison on January 21, 2003, and flew to the UK with documents supplied by the British High Commission in Trinidad. Goodyer contended he was discharged, but in the course of another hearing, it was discovered that he jumped bail.

Goodyer arrived at Crowne Point International Airport on board Virgin Atlantic Flight, 51, from Gatwick International Airport, London, at 5.30 pm. He was escorted by Insp Sahadeo Singh of the Besson Street CID and Cpl Herman Narace of Interpol. Around 7.15 pm, the officers arrived at the Piarco airport on board a Caribbean Airlines flight.

Members of the Guard and Emergency Branch provided back-up for the police vehicle which transported Goodyer to Port-of-Spain. Goodyer was handed over by Scotland Yard officers to the local policemen. Goodyer fought his extradition to Trinidad, losing all the way to the Court of Appeal in London. T&T Government formally requested his extradition to Trinidad.



Benjamin Goodyer to appear in court today

SRP, 4 men charged with killing 2 sisters



Published: 22 May 2009(Trinidad Guardian)



Under heavy police presence a Special Reserve police officer appeared in the Chaguanas Magistrates’ Court yesterday, jointly charged with four men for the murder of two sisters.

Junior John, 46, relatives Shiva, Ryan and Vishram Bagdath, together with Soman Rampersad, were not called upon to plead when they appeared before Magistrate Nanette Forde-John to answer the charges.

It is alleged that on April 14, John, in company of the four men, murdered six-year-old Sangeeta Ramdial and her three-year-old sister Sarah, at their Freeport home which was set on fire.

The men are also charged with attempting to murder Richard Ramdial and Geeta Singh. They also face a charge of maliciously damaging a property. The men will reappear in court on May 27.

Cop saves choking baby with 'kiss of life'



Yolandra John South Bureau



Saturday, May 23rd 2009(T&T Express)



A baby girl dying in the back seat of a car was saved by two police officers, who used their training to breathe life back into her.

The three-month-old child began breathing on her own again, after coughing up the fabric that she had swallowed.

The drama played out on the road outside the Cunupia Police Station around 5.30 p.m. on Wednesday.

The Express was yesterday unable to find the mother and child, who live at Chin Chin Road, Cunupia. But Special Reserve Police constable Kevin Nicholls, one of the heroes, recounted the incident.

Nicholls said, "I was on duty when we heard the car horn blowing repeatedly. We all rushed outside and there was a black car parked, and a woman running and screaming 'my child look like she dead'."

Nicholls said he ran to the car and opened the back door to find the child strapped into a car seat.

"I took the baby out and put her in the arms of my sergeant, Subero. I tilted her head back and began performing what I learned in training, and began giving her mouth-to-mouth."

Nicholls said the girl began turning blue and her face became discoloured.

"Within ten seconds of performing four chest impressions and two breaths, the child regained consciousness."

He then turned the child over, and tapped her on the back. "She spat out a clump of fibre."

With baby in arms, Nicholls said he then got into a police vehicle that sped to the Chaguanas Health Facility.

"The baby was going in and out of consciousness and I had to keep doing CPR. I was scared. I was praying that the child would not die in my arms."

Nicholls said that by the time they reached the hospital, "the child began smiling and touching me".

Police left the hospital without taking the names or address of the mother and child.

Cops turn midwives



By LAUREL V WILLIAMS Monday, June 1 2009(T&T Newsday)



OFFICERS at the Marabella Police Station yesterday lived up to their motto to “protect and serve” when they helped a young woman in labour to deliver a healthy baby girl.

Liz-Ann Leacock-Greene, 28, told Newsday she was asleep at her home at Perseverance Village, Couva, when she began experiencing labour pains at about 5 am yesterday. She and her husband Nigel Greene left in their Nissan B-14 car for San Fernando General Hospital.

A clerk at the Health Ministry, Leacock-Greene said as they neared JTA Supermarket in Marabella, her labour pains intensified. Sitting in the backseat, she told her husband to stop the car. He did so in front the Marabella Police Station.

“I did not think we would have make it to the hospital and the baby had already started to come out,” Leacock-Greene said from her bed at San Fernando General Hospital yesterday afternoon.

Her husband, she said, ran into the station and told police officers on duty what was happening. He immediately returned to the car. “The child’s head was in his hands,” Leacock-Greene said, “when police officers took over.”

WPCs Ann Marie Moore, Suzette Alexander and Krysta Roberts, with the assistance of MTS security guard, Kassiran Prince, ran to the car. They held the baby in their hands after placing Leacock-Greene on her back.

Sgt Anthony Charles, who is currently on leave, telephoned the women officers and guided them through the procedure of delivering the baby.

WPC Alexander told the Newsday she had just completed duty at St Margaret’s Police Station when she went into the Marabella Police Station, when Nigel Greene ran inside asking for assistance for his pregnant wife. Alexander, Roberts and Moore delivered the baby.

“The police officers were calm when they took over from my husband. I am glad it is over with and very thankful to them. They worked like true nurses,” said Leacock-Greene.

An EHS ambulance arrived at the station and took both mother and daughter to the hospital.

Leacock-Greene’s expected date of delivery was June 15.

She has named her baby girl, who weighed 3.2 kilogrammes, Ariel Destiny Chelsea Greene.

The couple have two other children Kelan, three, and Aaden who turns one today.


Proud officers: From left, WPCs Ann Marie Moore, Krysta Roberts and Suzette Alexander became 'midwives' early yesterday when they delivered a baby outside the Marabella Police Station.

2 police officers slapped with public misconduct charges


Tobago Bureau


Saturday, June 13th 2009


Acting Corporal Lennox John and Constable Christopher Madeira appeared in the Scarborough Magistrates' Court yesterday, charged with misbehaviour in public office.

The men appeared before Magistrate Joan Gill in the Scarborough Second Court. John faced one charge of misbehaviour in public office while Madeira faced two charges. The charges were laid indictably and the men were not called upon to plead.

John was placed on $100,000 bail while Madeira was placed on $150,000 bail. Both are to reappear on June 22. The men were charged after an incident in which two police-issued firearms went missing from the Scarborough Police Station.

Charges were laid after ASP Wesley Moore of the Tobago Division spearheaded an investigation.

Tobago cops charged



By KARL E CUPID Tobago Bureau Saturday, June 13 2009(T&T Newsday)



A POLICE Corporal and a Constable yesterday appeared before a Scarborough magistrate charged with misbehaviour in public office in connection with the disappearance of two firearms from the Scarborough Police Station.

Cpl Lennox John of Carnbee and PC Christopher Madeira of Scarborough appeared before Magistrate Joan Gill in the Second Court, jointly charged with knowingly and wilfully handing over firearm and ammunition belonging to the TT Police Service to Kim Quashie in Scarborough on June 8.

PC Madeira, who worked at Scarborough Police Station is also charged separately with handing over a loaded pistol and a bullet proof vest, belonging to the Police Service, to the said Kim Quashie at Turtle Beach in Black Rock on June 9.

PC Madeira was granted $150,000 bail with surety that must be approved by the Clerk of the Peace, while Cpl John was placed on $100,000 bail with a surety that must also be approved by the Clerk of the Peace.

The two were also ordered to surrender their passports to the court and report to the Scarborough Police Station twice weekly. The policemen were reportedly arrested following a “sting” operation after having been under surveillance for some time. The missing firearms were reportedly recovered. They are to reappear in court on June 22.

Acting Commissioner of Police James Philbert broke the news of the missing firearms and the arrest of three police officers during a press conference at Police Headquarters, Port-of-Spain earlier this week.

Philbert said that ACP Raymond Craig went to Tobago after information about the missing firearms was received. Craig along with officers from the Organised Crime, Narcotics and Firearms Bureau carried out an exercise resulting in the apprehension of the three officers and recovery of the two firearms.


http://www.newsday.co.tt/day/1,30922.html#foto

One killed as cops thwart robbery at Licensing



Camille Clarke



Published: 23 Jun 2009 (Trinidad Guardian)



Thieves yesterday attempted to rob the Licensing Office on Western Main Road, St James, but were stopped in their tracks by the police. One of the suspects was shot dead by the police and was identified as Harold Commissiong, 51, of Belle Eau Road, Belmont.

A female customer was taken to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital after she was shot in the foot, police said. A report said four men entered the office around 3.15 pm and announced a “hold-up” and told customers to lie down on the ground. Two plainclothes police officers who were doing business at the time, attempting to stop the robbery, took out their licensed revolvers and a shootout ensued. The robbers fled the scene and jumped into a white Almera car parked on Nizam Street.

Soon afterwards, the police found the vehicle abandoned at Henry Pierre Street in Woodbrook. Commissiong was found in the car’s back seat with gunshot wounds. He was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Eyewitnesses told the police the three robbers ran in the direction of Mucurapo Road. The Guardian was told the vehicle was rented from a company in East Trinidad.

A Task Force officer secures an area
on Henry Pierre Street in Woodbrook
yesterday.

Man beaten, locked in trunk; 2 on $150,000 bail


Dave Persad South Bureau



Wednesday, June 24th 2009 (T&T Express)



Two men appeared in court yesterday charged with abducting and beating a Chaguanas businessman last Friday Labour Day.

Kenneth Phang, 53, of Cacandee Road, Felicity, was beaten, tied and locked into the trunk of his car near an abandoned dump in Felicity at around noon, some 11 hours after he was taken.

Phang, a TSTT worker and car dealer, was rescued by police officers searching the village.

Defendants Naresh Ramoutar, 32, and Ryan Rattan, 21, both of Felicity, appeared before Chaguanas First Court Senior Magistrate Nanette Forde-John.

They are jointly charged by Sgt Wayne Lawrence with abduction, robbery with violence, demanding money by menace and false imprisonment. The charges are indictable and the men were not asked to enter a plea. They were granted bail of $75,000 each to be approved by the Clerk of the Peace and will return to court on July 3.

More crime in Trinidad. They are now beating off Jamaica as the crime capital of the West Indies.

quote:

Originally posted by Ramakant_p:
More crime in Trinidad. They are now beating off Jamaica as the crime capital of the West Indies.

Why don't your Fagdeo get the illegal coolies outta T&T before they becoem victims?

quote:

Originally posted by Eric's_Revenge:

quote:

Originally posted by Ramakant_p:
More crime in Trinidad. They are now beating off Jamaica as the crime capital of the West Indies.

Why don't your Fagdeo get the illegal coolies outta T&T before they becoem victims?

Well! He got you out, didn't he?

Cocaine in baby clothes, kuchela



By Andre Bagoo Saturday, June 27 2009(T&T Newsday)



BABY clothes, kuchela (seasoned mango), asphalt, canned foods, body casts and furniture are among the items in which the police have found hidden cocaine, Ag Commissioner of Police James Philbert revealed yesterday.

Addressing a seminar on the illicit drug trade held at the Ministry of National Security, Port-of-Spain, Philbert gave a startling list of places where the police have found persons attempting to hide illegal drugs.

“We have found cocaine in asphalt, we have found it in canned foods, we have found it in kuchela, we have found it amongst furniture; it has been used to make up furniture, we have found it in fake casts on people who fake injuries, we have found it in babies’ clothing while the babies are wearing them,” Philbert told the audience.

Referring to the practice of persons ingesting plastic pellets of cocaine in order to traffic them across borders, Philbert noted that the police also continue to see the “popular swallowing behaviourial situation,” despite the clear physical risks associated with it. “We have had deaths in our prisons of people who swallowed and the packages were ruptured,” Philbert said.

The Ag Commissioner’s list came in the wake of several drug busts in recent years notable for their creativity.

For instance on February 22, 2007 $5.3 million worth of cocaine was discovered concealed in carailli at the Piarco International Airport.

The next day, cocaine was discovered in markers at a guest house in Trinidad.

A video shown during yesterday’s seminar also noted that cocaine had also been found “in candy” or confectionery sweets. Philbert also warned that drug-pushers are now targeting children in schools and embarking on recruitment drives.

“Children are being encouraged to bring drugs into school,” he said.

He noted that under the Dangerous Drugs Act a person in possession of drugs within 500 metres of a school is automatically liable for conviction for a criminal offence.

Philbert gave figures showing a marginal increase in the amount of persons arrested for being in possession of marijuana and cocaine between 2006 and 2008. Between those years, the amount of men arrested for possession of cocaine moved from 1,243 to 1,297, while the amount of women arrested moved from 87 to 115. Additionally, there were 29 foreigners arrested on the same type of offence in 2006 and 11 in 2008.

In terms of marijuana possession, Philbert said, 4,325 males, and 203 females were arrested in 2006.

By 2008 the figures moved to 4,178 males and 216 females. Thus far for the year 2009, there have been 432 men and 34 women arrested for cocaine possession.

Additionally 20 foreigners were arrested for the same offence. Also, 1,532 men and 54 women were arrested for marijuana possession, in addition to one foreigner.

In 2007, Philbert noted, there was one case of a person being arrested for possession of the high-end narcotic heroin.

“We have seen the return of heroin in the region,” Philbert said. He noted that another drug, known as ‘‘ice’’ (methamphetamine), is also being distributed.

Cyber cops to submit Gail Joseph report



Nikita Braxton South Bureau



Saturday, June 27th 2009 (T&T Express)



The Cyber Crime Unit of the Police Service will submit a report to homicide officers early next week, detailing the Internet affair between murdered Gail Joseph and the man police suspect had something to do with her death.

The CCU has found the e-mail and telephone records that homicide officers intend taking to the Director of Public Prosecutions as part of their file.

Joseph, a law clerk living in Siparia, went missing June 1, after a trip to the Manzanilla beach to meet with a man she met on an Internet relationship site, Tagged.com.

The man reported her missing that night, and three days later her body was found floating in the Nariva River. It was first suspected she drowned, but an autopsy found she was strangled by the bare hands of her killer.

Joseph, 39, was the single mother of four.

New crime-busting unit to hit streets


Akile Simon



Published: 28 Jun 2009 (Trinidad Guardian)



Expect to see, from tomorrow, cops on bicycles, on motorcycles and on foot patrol, and some even dressed casually in short pants, patrolling the streets of Trinidad and Tobago, hunting for law breakers, even the average man littering the streets. The 250-strong special unit, trained in two weeks, will hit the streets in areas throughout the country from 7 am, in the Government’s latest effort to arrest escalating crime levels in the country.

The new multi-million-dollar crime-fighting strategy, aimed at reducing robberies, murders and other violent and serious crimes, will be under the direct command of acting Police Commissioner James Philbert. The officers will be dressed in civilian clothing combing the streets for litterbugs, errant motorists, snatchers, robbers, illegal vending, arms and ammunition, narcotics and wanted suspects.

Their main objective is to assist in reducing crime and road accidents by ten per cent. Road blocks are expected to be conducted on a regular basis.

The officers will operate on three different shifts: 7 am to 3 pm, 3 pm to 11 pm, and 11 pm to 7 am. The unit has been outfitted with guns, ammunition, bulletproof and utility vests, batons, torchlights, new marked and unmarked police vehicles, motorcycles, bicycles and WT sets, among other resources.

Too many units

Their vehicles will feature state-of-the-art equipment, including laptop computers, and they will also benefit from continuous training up to December. The squad, which is being referred to as a Special Task Force Unit, will operate in teams of ten to 13, using the American system of having partners. Officers for the unit were selected from Special Reserve Police (SRPs) and others who were recently absorbed into the service.

They were hand-picked from various police stations, and interviewed by ACP Raymond Craig. Their headquarters is adjacent to the Chaguanas Fire Station. The officers have undergone intense training at the Police Academy in St James, in areas such as case separation, court procedures, anger and stress management, traffic duties and dangerous drugs.

Philbert visited the officers last week, and told them they were an important asset to the country. In another attempt to bolster the Police Service’s human resource, hundreds of applicants flocked the Police Training Academy yesterday to write the SRP examinations. Senior officers already have criticised the new unit, saying it would further deplete the strength at the various police stations.

Speaking with the Sunday Guardian on the condition of anonymity, one officer said one of the major problems faced by the service, was there were too many units. Concerned senior officers also said the additional units were creating exorbitant overtime bills for “doing very little.” “That is where the problem comes in. Every time things get out of control, you are hearing about a new unit.

“I think they should disband all the units and augment the strength at various stations, so the work could be done much more effectively,” the lawman said. Another senior cop said, “For instance, look at the Besson Street CID. “They are in dire need of more detectives, since they are responsible for some of the country’s major crime spots, Laventille, Beetham, Sea Lots and East Port-of-Spain.

Robbery decrease

“Sometimes, there are only two officers in the charge room, and I think all the resources, including human, in some of the special units, should be re-directed to stations like Besson Street, if we are serious about dealing with the uncontrollable crime situation.”

Checks at Besson Street CID revealed there was an inspector, a sergeant, two corporals and five constables. During a press conference Thursday, acting Deputy Police Commissioner Gilbert Reyes, hinted that a unit was in the making to help arrest the crime situation.

“What we are seeing is an increase in the number of robberies taking place in T&T, and especially those resulting in homicides. “In the near future, you will observe a lot of activities taking place throughout our streets and the country, resulting in a decrease in robberies, because we are concerned with the robberies.”

Various units

Special Anti-crime Unit

Multi-Operational Purpose Squad

Special Branch

Repeat Offenders Programme

Guard and Emergency Branch

The Divisional Task Forces: WDTF, POSTF, NEDTF, NDTF, EDTF, CDTF, SDTF, SWDTF, TDTF

Inter-Agency Task Force

Criminal Investigations Division

Stolen Vehicles Squad

Anti-Corruption & Investigations Bureau

Fraud Squad

Interpol

Criminal Intelligence Unit

Crime and Suppression Unit

Anti-kidnapping Unit

Homicide Investigations Bureau

Crime and Problem Analysis

Traffic Branch

Court and Process Branch

High Performance Teams

Police K-Nine Unit

Mounted Branch

Crime Scene Unit

Criminal Records Office

Human Resource Branch

Finance Branch

Transport Branch

Bicycle cops on patrol soon



By RHONDOR DOWLAT Wednesday, July 1 2009 (T&T Newsday)



OFFICERS of the new “Bicycle” Unit will not be expected to ride into the hot spots including the hills and terrains of Laventille, but will be despatched to shopping and residential areas, such as Chaguanas, Arouca and Woodbrook.

In revealing the proposed plan on Monday, Acting Police Commissioner, James Philbert confirmed that the officers will be visible on the streets within the next three weeks to a month’s time.

He was speaking at a press briefing which was held at the Audio and Visual Unit, Police Administration Building, Port-of-Spain.

Explaining how the ‘new to Trinidad’ initiative will work, Philbert said that it will be blended into the motor and foot patrols and specifically targeting the shopping and residential areas.

Police officers on bikes have been in operation over in the sister isle, Tobago, for the past seven years.

According to Philbert, each bike patrol can take between 30 minutes to two hours in duration.

He also added that the officers will be equipped with the necessary safety and communicative equipment such as head gear, bullet proof vests, firearms, handcuffs and radios.

“The bicycles will be carried via vehicles which will be parked, and then the officers will take these bikes and ride through the shopping areas and residential areas. The officers will be interacting with members of the communities and sometimes will be holding short meetings with them. They will also be visiting schools in the areas,” Philbert added.

“Communities have welcomed the initiative so far because there are cases where we say people go into communities and pretend to be gardeners, and such the like, and this time they are all about crime, so these officers will be able to ride around the community and stop and talk to these people enquiring about their name and where exactly they live and their purpose for being on the streets,” he added.

This initiative was under a directive given to the TTPS through the Intelligence in light of the increasing crime situation in the country, including increasing robberies, break-ins, house burglaries, and larcenies.

Philbert said that at least 50 bicycles will be made available, but Philbert declined to say whether or not the bicycles were being imported, or bought locally, and what cost was being allocated for the establishment and running of the unit.

As regards to special on-the-job insurance for the bike officers, Philbert admitted that there were no concerns raised. He however did not rule out the thought, because discussions were still pending with the Police Service Association.

Why didn't BJ think od a Bicycle Unit to fight crime Like T&T did?..

Constable held for trying to rent out gun



Sunday, July 5th 2009 (T&T Express)




A police constable was caught red-handed as he tried to rent his service firearm to a known criminal for a $6,000 fee.

The officer, attached to the Mon Repos Police Station, will appear in court tomorrow charged with the illegal transfer of a police-issued firearm, renting the firearm and misconduct in public office.

The policeman, with 21 years' service, was arrested following a sting operation by the Anti-Corruption Bureau. The arrest was made late Thursday evening along Harris Promenade in San Fernando.

Investigators said the officer was about to hand over the weapon to a "known underworld figure". In his hand was a bag containing $6,000. A team of officers, spearheaded by Senior Superintendent Terry Young, recovered the 9mm Smith and Wesson pistol, several rounds of ammunition and the cash. -Carolyn Kissoon

$14M ‘coke’ bust



By INDARJIT SEURAJ Monday, July 6 2009 (T&T Newsday)



WEEKS of intense surveillance paid off handsomely over the weekend for officers from the Organised Crime, Narcotics and Firearms Bureau (OCNFB) when they raided a house in San Juan and seized $14 million in cocaine, $50,000 in marijuana and two pistols one outfitted with a hi-tech laser tracing attachment.

A 31-year-old unemployed man who was arrested in the house, has been slapped with several charges and is expected to appear before a Port-of-Spain Magistrate today.

According to police reports, at about 2.30 pm on Saturday, OCNFB officers went to a house on Thompson Lane in Petit Bourg, San Juan and executed a search warrant.

The 35 kilos of cocaine were found wrapped in white and silver coloured, waterproof one-kilogramme packets, ready for sale. About $50,000 in compressed marijuana was also seized.

In addition, two unlicensed semi-automatic pistols, one a US made Smith and Wesson nine- millimetre and the other, a powerful Brazilian made Taurus .45 calibre firearm were also found during the exercise. After they are marked and tagged as court exhibits, the pistols will be sent to the Special Anti-Crime Unit (SAUTT) for ballistics testing.

Investigators will try to determine if the firearms were used in any previous crimes. The Brazilian manufactured Taurus was described by OCNFB officers as a high-powered weapon which has been internationally recognised for its kill-power, accuracy and easy recoil. The Taurus was found outfitted with a hi-tech laser sighting attachment which allows the user to “sight” his/her target with a laser beam for accuracy in circumstances when visibility is poor.

Contacted for comment, acting Deputy Police Commissioner Gilbert Reyes commended the officers involved in the raid. “All I can tell you is that it was an excellent piece of work by members of the TT Police Service. We had information, carried out surveillance, did our homework and got the results we wanted,” Reyes said.

He agreed that criminals were getting their hands on more sophisticated, hi-tech weapons as the war over gang turf, drug turf and factions in organised crime, gets more intense. Reyes said the Police Service was fully aware of this situation. “We will be setting up our own police marine branch to deal with the importation of illegal arms and ammunition and other illicit items,” he said. Firearms have been used to commit over 80 percent of murders in the nation this year.

No bail for 2 men on cocaine charge



Elizabeth W. Allard Tobago Bureau



Thursday, July 23rd 2009 (T&T Express)



Two men appeared before Senior Magistrate Annette McKenzie yesterday in the Scarborough Magistrates' Court, charged with possession of seven kilos of cocaine with an estimated street value of $3 million.

The men, Marian Ovidiu Ketenis, 32, a taxi-driver, and Marius Ifrim, 42, a construction worker, were not called upon to plead as the charges were laid indictably.

Both indicated to prosecutor William Davis that they did not understand English and the matter was adjourned to July 29. The two accused were denied bail and remanded into custody.

The men were held at Crown Point International Airport on Sunday around 4.50 p.m., attempting to board BA flight 2156 headed for Gatwick, London. The illegal drugs were allegedly found in secret compartments in their luggage.

Meanwhile, a 31-year-old unemployed British citizen is under police guard at the Mt Hope Hospital, after being held with half a kilogramme of cocaine concealed in her clothing on Monday, at Piarco International Airport.

The woman, who complained of feeling unwell, was later taken to the Mt Hope Hospital, where she has excreted a number of cocaine pellets. She was attempting to board a Caribbean Airlines flight to Barbados.

US judge commends T&T cops


Nigel Simon



25 Jul 2009 (Trinidad Guardian)



A judge in Washington DC has highly commended officers of the T&T Region II Homicide Bureau of Investigations for the manner in which they gave evidence in the Balram “Balo” Maharaj kidnapping and murder trial.

The commendation came from judge John E Bates at the E Barrett Federal Court, Washington DC earlier this week. Trinidadians Kevin Nixon, Anderson Straker, Christopher Sealey, Wayne Pierre, Army Sgt Leon Nurse, Cpl Ricardo De Four, Zion Clarke and Kevon Demerieux are before Justice Bates charged with Maharaj’s murder.

Homicide Insp Stanley Ramdeen, Sgts Eric Parks, Wendell Lucas and PC’s Mitchell Gosine, Marvin Pinder and Kendell Abraham along Dr Emery Hinds gave evidence before Justice Bates over the past two weeks. The officers returned to T&T yesterday.

A verdict is expected in the matter by next week. Justice Bates said he was impressed by the way the officers, under acting ASP Johnny Abraham conducted their investigations with the limited scientific resources they had at the time.

Former US Ambassador to T&T Dr Roy Austin gave plaques of commendation to the local officers. The eight Trinidadians, were among 11 men, extradited to the US to answer charges relating to Maharaj’s killing.

Russell “Saucy” Joseph, Winston Gittens and ex-soldier Jason Percival all of Santa Cruz have pleaded guilty before Justice Bates, but their sentencing has been deferred until after they give evidence for the prosecution against the eight other accused. The trio was able to cut a deal with the Justice Department to give evidence against the other accused.

Probe launched into $100,000-bail issue



Akile Simon


Published: 28 Jul 2009 (Trinidad Guardian)



An investigation has been launched into the circumstances surrounding the $100,000 bail granted to a San Juan businessman while in police custody, when his fingerprints were not taken.

Zaheer Ali, of Saddle Road, pleaded not guilty when he appeared before Port-of-Spain Magistrate Nalini Singh in the Third Court yesterday, charged with attempting to bribe a police officer. It is alleged that Ali, a liquor mart owner, on Friday, July 24, on the North Coast Road, Las Cuevas, did corruptly give acting Cpl Tence Garrette, a member of the Police Service, $1,400 as an inducement to forego charging three Colombian nationals for entering the country illegally.

The women, who were detained in a vehicle on the North Coast Road, have since been handed over to immigration authorities. When the matter was called, ag Cpl Garrette informed the court that an impression of Ali’s print was not taken by the police. Ali was granted bail on Friday night by a Justice of the Peace while at Barataria Police Station. Head of the North-Eastern Division, Snr Supt Theophillus Cummings, said he was surprised at what transpired, and had personally launched an investigation into the incident.

“I was aware of the alleged charges against the businessman, and I gave instructions to an officer at the Barataria Police Station to assist Const Garrette, a no-nonsense cop, in overseeing the matter,” Cummings said yesterday. Singh ordered Ali to give his prints to police and adjourned the matter to August 5.

Deportee suspected in passport scam



Akile Simon



Published: 31 Jul 2009



Acting Police Commissioner James Philbert is calling on members of the public who may have been conned of thousands of dollars while seeking employment in the UK, to contact the Morvant Police Station.

A 48-year-old US deportee, who police believe was behind the scam, was detained by officers of the North Eastern Division Task Force during a sting operation at a mall in Chaguanas on Wednesday.

Other people were being sought in connection with the incident.

The exercise was carried out by Philbert, Snr Supt Theophilus Cummings, Ag Supt Stephen Ramsubhag, Ag ASP John Daniel and Sgt Roger Alexander. According to police, the man pretended to be a UK detective on vacation, searching for locals to work as baby sitters and restaurant workers. Around 2 pm, officers went to Mid Centre Mall where a Barataria woman was expected to meet the man to make a payment of $1,900. As the suspect collected the money he was arrested. The woman said the suspect requested two copies of her passport, ID card, birth certificate and a police certificate of good character and two passport-size pictures.

“He told me I had to pay $500 in order to process my documents,” she said during a telephone interview yesterday. The woman said on June 28, she responded to an ad in the classifieds section of a newspaper which stated, “Baby-Sitter/Cook wanted for live-in position in England.” She said there was also a cell phone number which she used to contact the man. She said the suspect told her he was looking for a suitable candidate to fill the position of a baby-sitter for a couple who worked as doctors in the military.

She said the suspect told her that she had to pay $2,500 for a bond in order to get a work permit.

According to the woman, everything appeared to be genuine until a woman who identified herself as Ms Sabrina Mohammed called claiming she was from the UK High Commission. “She wanted to verify my information and application for a work permit. She called from a blocked number and that made me suspicious about what was happening. Nevertheless, I played on and called the police and Sgt Alexander.”

Cummings said checks with the UK High Commission revealed the ad was not authentic.

Mounted police to patrol Tobago beaches



7 Aug 2009

Tourism Minister Joseph Ross at
yesterday's post-cabinet news conference.
Photo: Jennifer Watson.



NADALEEN SINGH



Government plans to introduce more security measures in the sister isle of Tobago following the attack on British couple Peter Greene, 65, and his wife Murium, 59. Government has also planned for the couple’s family members to visit them. The couple was attacked around 2.30 pm on Saturday at their house in Bacolet,Tobago. Tourism Minister Joseph Ross made the announcement at yesterday’s post-Cabinet news conference.

Ross said arrangements have been made for family members of the victims to visit them. “We have also been making arrangements for the relatives to be brought back to Trinidad so that they can stay with the Greenes. We are arranging counselling services for them when they are here so that we would reduce the impact that this kind of incident would have on them,” Ross said. He said he visited the couple on Sunday. “We have faith that our law enforcement agencies will use the full force of the law to apprehend those persons who perpetrated this crime and those perpetrators are brought to justice as soon as possible,” Ross said.

He said also, security on the sister isle had been beefed up and more measures in the long-run are expected to be introduced. “For instance they (THA) have established joint police and army patrols, special patrols by the Defence Force at guest houses and hotels. That was one of the immediate measures put in place. The re-deployment of personnel at Crown Point has been done and there has been the establishment of two hotlines in Tobago to deal with emergencies. Ongoing discussions have started with the police, hoteliers and security firms regarding improving security arrangements and accommodation at guest houses,” he said.

Ross also said measures have been put in place to protect the Tobago seaside. “There has been the introduction of horse patrols on Tobago beaches, the introduction of the canine unit and the installation of the advanced passenger system,” Ross said. He said there were other measures being considered such as the establishment of a police unit to deal specifically with tourism. Another measure now being considered was the establishment of a police marine unit and the increase of maritime and land enforcement officers on the isle.

Impact on Tourism

The attack on the Greenes would have an impact on the Tourism sector in Tobago Ross said. “We expect that it would have an impact. What we are trying to do is to ensure that we have adequate security. Systems are in place to give the visitors the assurances that the possibility of these people committing these crimes and getting away will be reduced significantly,” Ross said. Asked if the Government planned to do further marketing of Tobago, he said marketing will be continued.

“We will continue to do our marketing as we have been doing in the UK and in other parts of Europe. It’s now left to the Tourism Development Company and the THA to come up with their marketing strategies,” Ross said. Commenting on the travel advisories from the UK and Australia which changed since this incident occurred, Ross said Government had noted them. “Government has noted with concern the travel advisory updates from the United Kingdom and Australia,” Ross said.

Video Clip

Contraband’ hidden in police station ceiling



Akile Simon


Published: 9 Aug 2009(Trinidad Guardian)



Fifteen officers assigned to the St Joseph CID are facing immediate transfer after seven guns, ammunition and drugs were reportedly found hidden in a ceiling and the dormitory area at the St Joseph Police Station, yesterday. A high-scale probe has been launched into the incident by Acting Police Commissioner, James Philbert, sources said.

Around 10 am yesterday, Ag Supt John Martinez and a team of officers from the Criminal Intelligence Unit (CIU) went to the station where they conducted several searches.The station remained under lock down for several hours as officers searched the building. Several officers have been questioned by Intelligence officers in connection with the find.

It is reported the guns, an undisclosed quantity of ammunition, cocaine and marijuana were found in the ceiling, at an office assigned to the sergeant in charge of the CID. However, sources said there was no sergeant assigned to the CID office.

It is also alleged some of the contraband was found in a dormitory area occupied by CID officers. When contacted, head of the Northern Division Snr Supt Rajendranath Maharaj said Acting Police Commissioner, James Philbert was dealing with the incident. He referred all queries to Philbert. Maharaj was said to be present during the search. However, attempts to contact Philbert up to late last evening proved futile. Officers at the St Joseph Police Station have remained tight-lipped about the incident but confirmed the premises was searched.

According to Cable News Channel Three news (CNC3), Commissioner Philbert confirmed the incident and said for some time there have been irregularities at the station. It is reported the items were not exhibited in court cases since an inventory at the property room revealed nothing was missing. Philbert said the investigations into the recovery of the illegal items was ongoing and that the items did not belong to the Police Service. There are 14 constables and one corporal assigned to the CID office.

Ex-Guyanese cop among 12 arrested


Akile Simon


Published: 9 Aug 2009 (Trinidad Guardian)



Hard times back home caused a 32-year-old Guyanese former policeman to come to this country, in order to make a living. The former cop was one of 12 persons arrested by officers of the North-Eastern Division Task Force during an exercise in Santa Cruz and San Juan in the heavy rains on Friday afternoon.

According to police, the suspect was arrested sitting on a wall near Bourg Mulatresse Secondary School. He allegedly had 29 grams of cocaine in one of his pockets. When questioned by police, the suspect told officers he left the Guyana Police Force two years ago, because he was fearful for his life. “If dem boy ah know dat you ah police, them ah lick shot at you,” the man told the officers. He added that after leaving the force, things got so hard that he decided to come to Trinidad.

“Boss, ah just collect dat thing to ah carry for ah man; you know. Gimme ah lil chance nah. It real hard in Guyana; you know, boss,” the man told officers after he was arrested. He was charged with possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking, since the alleged offence occurred within 500 yards of a school.

At Pancho Lane, the officers boarded a house and held a 31-year-old man cutting up a kilo of compressed marijuana, in preparation for the streets. Officers said they received information and executed a search warrant at the man’s home, where they found him in the living room, allegedly with the drug.

Meanwhile, on Fifth Street, San Juan, officers arrested three Belmont men who they believe may have been responsible for a spate for robberies in the Croisee.

Officers said the suspects were held selling what appeared to be gold and silver chains and other items believed to have been taken from pedestrians during “snatch and run and pickpocketing.” Officers also detained a man they believed may have been responsible for robbing several persons at San Juan Republic Bank’s ATM.

High-powered arms found in Morvant



By INDARJIT SEURAJ Wednesday, August 12 2009(T&T Newsday)



Officers of the North Eastern Division Task Force (NEDTF) were yesterday praised by Acting Police Commissioner James Philbert for their work in retrieving two high powered firearms in Morvant.

“I am extremely elated. I am so happy about that,” Philbert said during a phone interview yesterday.

He added, “I am glad that there are still police officers who will take up the mantle, and try to rebuild public trust in the Police Service.”

He said the officers worked well, risking their lives in the line of fire to ensure that two more illegal guns were pulled off the streets.

“I have personally commended them on the spot last night (Monday night),” he added.

Reports are at about 8 pm Monday, a team of NEDTF officers led by Sgt Roger Alexander and Cpl Darryl La Pierre, and including PCs Reynaldo Cielto, Jason Lavia, Aaron Roberts and Ryan Duncan, went on enquiries at Vegas, Morvant.

They had only just received information from Commissioner Philbert.

On arriving there, they confronted a group of men who started firing at them.

The officers returned fire and chased the suspects who escaped by jumping down a nearby precipice, leaving behind the two firearms which were retrieved by the officers.

None of the officers were hurt during the exchange of gunfire.

Investigators believe the Venezuelan made 12-gauge shot gun and the 7.26 calibre rifle are just part of a cache of firearms belonging to a gang in the Vegas area.

The shotgun was loaded with six rounds of ammunition, while the rifle contained nine.

Philbert was also high in praise for the team of Southern Division officers led by Snr Supt Lovell, who found a “brand new” pump action shot gun buried on the coastline in Cedros. “And they will continue to search because this shows that there is something going on down there,” said Philbert.

He also urged the public not to be daunted by recent developments which have cast a shadow on the Police Service.

The weapons are expected to be sent to the Special Anti-Crime Unit of TT (Sautt) for ballistics testing, as well as for matching on the Sautt database.



picture
GUNS FOUND: The Venezuelan-made 12-gauge shot gun and the 7.26 rifle, together with the ammunition seized by North Eastern Division Task Force officers, in Vegas, Morvant, Monday night.

Businessman to stand trial for disposal of corpse



By INDARJIT SEURAJ Thursday, August 20 2009 (T&T Newsday)



A Santa Cruz businessman charged with the disposal of a human corpse to prevent the arrest of the killers, was yesterday ordered to stand trial for the crime.

Ravi Boodhoo was granted $150,000 bail with a surety, after Magistrate Avason Quinlan ruled that the State had brought sufficient evidence to make a prima facie case against the accused.

The accused is charged with disposing of the body of Ronald Samlal, whose bloodied body was found over a precipice along the North Coast Road.

He had reportedly been shot to death.

Quinlan, presiding in the Port-of-Spain Fourth (B) Court, on August 11, agreed with submissions by State prosecutor Lee Merry that the defence of duress, claimed by the accused, had to be decided by a jury.

Defence counsel Theodore Guerra, SC, had claimed the defence of duress, arguing that his client had been threatened into doing the crime.

Yesterday, the magistrate formally read the caution to the accused, informing him that he would have to await trial.

Samlal, 42, of Eastern Main Road, San Juan, the owner of a used car business, left home on August 30, 2007, to go to the Inter Commercial Bank in Chaguanas.

When he failed to return home, several calls were made to his cellphone which went unanswered.

That night, relatives received a telephone call from someone who demanded $500,000 for Samlal’s safe release.

He was found murdered two days later.

Convicted killer wins prisons poetry contest


Camille Clarke



Published: 22 Aug 2009(Trinidad Guardian)



Convicted killer Nadia Pooran, said she regrets the events which led to her arrest and conviction. She believes the Penal Reform and Transformation Unit has changed her life. Pooran made the disclosure yesterday shortly after she won the Reforming Criminal Justice Inmates Poetry Competition (21 years and over category).

The first time initiative, hosted by the Penal Reform and Restoration Unit, was held at the Golden Grove Prison, Arouca. Pooran, a mother of two, was sentenced to 20 years for killing former school teacher Ralphy Ramcharan in March 2003. Pooran and another woman Shelly Ann Anganoo were sentenced last year in a Port-of-Spain High Court.

The poetry competition, which was based on the Gospel of Restoration, received 131 entries from inmates. Pooran, in an interview, said her experience behind bars helped her to write the winning poem. “It affects me from time to time. You must go back to how things started and it helped me to write. I learned from my experiences and I regret what has happened. I had to search in myself,” Pooran said. She said her two children now lived with relatives.

“As a mother it affects me a lot. I hear my son now asks for me because he does not know me. My daughter knows who I am,” Pooran stated. She said financial and psychological problems led to her being in prison. Counsellors come and help. It works for me and the programme is still working,” Pooran said.

She said she was hopeful one day she would be granted parole. Muwakil Muhammed, who judged the competition, said literacy was a problem. “Without literacy you can’t have restoration,” Muhammed said. He said he was impressed by the inmates and decided to make a documentary on their struggles.

“I would like to share it with other schools. Your power, belief, strength after this will be judged. I could be just like one of you except for God.” Muhammed said he was driven to tears while reading the poems. “I want to give you all a choice, a balanced story. I don’t want it to end here,” he said. Prison Officer, Darryl Moore, placed first in the Essay Competition wile inmate Shadale Duncan won the first prize in 15 to 20 years category.



Inmates Nadia Pooran and Shadale Duncan show their trophies at the award ceremony of the Reforming Criminal Justice Poetry competition at Golden Grove Prison, Arouca yesterday. Photo: Dilip Singh

Jamaican faces deportation


Akile Simon



Published: 24 Aug 2009(Trinidad Guardian)


Police have arrested a 27-year-old Jamaican in an apartment in El Socorro, San Juan, after they received information that he was wanted by Jamaican authorities for attempted murder.

Dwight Clinton Wallace, of Bob Marley Boulevard in Kingston, Jamaica, was held around 6.45 am on Saturday by officers of North-Eastern Division Task Force at Ramcharran Drive, El Socorro Road Extension, San Juan. Wallace, however, denied that he was a fugitive.

He told the lawmen that a jealous ex-lover threatened to get him out of T&T by any means necessary, and was the person who alleged that he (Wallace) was wanted in Jamaica. “I was never arrested by police and charged before, not even for a traffic offence.” When questioned by police about his status in the country, Wallace admitted that he overstayed his time.

“Trinidad is a very nice place. The people are very friendly and generous, so I decided to stay, well, longer than I should have.

“I prefer here than Jamaica.” The hotel supervisor said he felt much safer in Trinidad, where he enjoyed himself at various nightclubs, as opposed to Jamaica, where were a lot of drive-by shootings.

According to police, Wallace came into the country for vacation on November 8, 2008, and was expected to depart one month later. Wallace was expected to be handed over to officers of the Immigration Department.

Rass man the rate Trinidad going with the crime,they will beat Jamaica record soon.

quote:

Originally posted by The Judge:
Rass man the rate Trinidad going with the crime,they will beat Jamaica record soon.

Ah keep telling alyuh Indos ask yuh President to make a quick evacuation of all them illegal guyanese in T&T post haste!

quote:

Originally posted by Eric's_Revenge:

quote:

Originally posted by The Judge:
Rass man the rate Trinidad going with the crime,they will beat Jamaica record soon.

Ah keep telling alyuh Indos ask yuh President to make a quick evacuation of all them illegal guyanese in T&T post haste!

Aye Trinidadian too lazy aye ain't want to wuk.I was there last month and there is a farmer who has the biggest plot of land in Aranguez,begging me to assist his with some workers from Guyana.

quote:

Originally posted by The Judge:

quote:

Originally posted by Eric's_Revenge:

quote:

Originally posted by The Judge:
Rass man the rate Trinidad going with the crime,they will beat Jamaica record soon.

Ah keep telling alyuh Indos ask yuh President to make a quick evacuation of all them illegal guyanese in T&T post haste!

Aye Trinidadian too lazy aye ain't want to wuk.I was there last month and there is a farmer who has the biggest plot of land in Aranguez,begging me to assist his with some workers from Guyana.

That's the ONLY work Gay nese can do in T&T and other islands gardener wuk, locals won't work for a pittance nothing serious.

Cops find guns and ammo in Morvant



By INDARJIT SEURAJ Wednesday, August 26 2009(T&T Newsday)



Another dent in the illegal trade in arms and ammunition was made Monday, when officers of the North Eastern Division Task Force (NEDTF) recovered seven firearms and over 100 rounds of assorted ammunition.

The seizure comes just two weeks after the NEDTF officers were commended by Acting Police Commissioner James Philbert when they recovered a Venezuelan-made 12-gauge shot gun and a 7.26 calibre rifle in the Vegas, Morvant area.

And again yesterday, Sgt Roger Alexander and Cpl Darryl La Pierre, who led an NEDTF team comprising Police Constables Sunil Barrath, Patrick Antoine, Jason Lavia, Kerwin Titre and Kevin Reyes, were commended for their good work in seizing the deadly firearms.

In a phone interview yesterday, Philbert reiterated the measure of rewards for good policing, but noted that he would not let a few bad apples spoil the lot.

“We have officers who are working hard, and we will commend them. And those who are pulling us down will be dealt with,” Philbert said. He also noted that the hard work of such officers would pay off in the long run.

The NEDTF officers were reportedly executing warrants during an exercise between 2.30 pm and 6.30 pm Monday.

They first went to an abandoned house in Vegas, Morvant, where they found an AK-47 assault rifle, two pistols and a homemade hand-held shot gun buried in the earth. They next went to Pelican Extension, Morvant, where they found a high powered rifle resembling an Israeli-made Galil together with a pistol and another hand-held shotgun hidden in a fig patch.

The team also recovered a camouflage Army pants and close to 100 rounds of assorted ammunition, including 9 millimetre, 7.62 and .38 ammunition.

The firearms at Pelican Extension were recovered at the back of a house occupied by a man who was a suspect in the slaying of WPC Elizabeth Sutherland, her 48-year-old husband Ivan, daughter Anika, 20, and family friend Kevin Serrette, 31, at the home of the Sutherlands’ at John Street, Pelican Extension Road, on January 22, 2007.

The man was recently charged with the unlawful possession of firearm and ammunition, and is on bail after he was recently charged with threatening a police officer with a firearm in Santa Cruz.

picture

COPS CAUGHT


Cops caught stealing $96,000



Richard Charan Editor South Bureau



Saturday, August 29th 2009 (T&T Express)




Four police officers from an elite crime fighting unit in the Southern Division were taken in for questioning Thursday, over their alleged involvement in the theft from a casino of almost $100,000.

The money-grab was caught on tape.

The policemen were questioned by members of the Anti-Corruption Investigation Bureau (ACIB).

The acting Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) was consulted in the case.

Last night, the Express learnt that warrants would be issued for two police corporals and two police constables, with the stipulation they be granted bail of $150,000 each on the condition they hand over their passports.

Acting Police Commissioner James Philbert has been briefed on the case, the Express was told.

Philbert has warned officers that they will face charges disciplinary or criminal should they be found to have broken any law.

The investigation stemmed from a robbery at Club Avenue 5, Duncan Village, San Fernando, before daybreak last week Friday.

Police were called to the club after getting a call from a man who said he saw someone walk in with a shotgun.

Police arrested two suspects, 21 and 29, seized $38,000 in stolen money, and recovered a homemade shotgun and ammunition. A third man was later implicated in the robbery.

But it was only after a review of the surveillance tapes by the casino's management that images were found of men in police uniform stuffing their pockets with wads of cash from a vault.

Some $96,000 was taken.

On Thursday, the ACIB took the suspect police officers to Port of Spain for questioning.

This is the latest in a string of incidents in which police officers have been alleged to have been involved in illegal activities.

Earlier this month, a cache of drugs, firearms and ammunition was found in the ceiling at the St Joseph Police Station. Some 38 officers who were attached to the station were transferred following the find, but the investigation into that incident is still ongoing.

In another incident, also this month, drugs which were exhibits in various court cases and had been ordered destroyed, were found at a police officer's home. That case too is still being investigated.

Four officers charged for casino theft



By Indarjit Seuraj Sunday, August 30 2009(T&T Newsday)



Charges of misbehaviour in public office have been slapped on four police officers following the alleged theft of close to $100,000 from a casino in south Trinidad.

Police Corporals Deopersad Jankienanan and Keshan Harrysingh, together with Constable Anslem Drakes were each granted $150,000 with a surety, by Justice of the Peace Ackbar Khan, late Friday.

Khan had signed the warrant of arrest for the officers at about 6 pm that day.

And yesterday, the misbehaviour in public office charge was laid against Constable Regan Ramanan, who was also granted $150,000 bail.

Jankienanan, Harrysingh and Drakes are charged with misbehaviour in public office by allegedly stealing between $75,000 and $100,000 recovered from a robbery at Club Avenue 5, Duncan Village, San Fernando. Ramanan, meantime, is charged alongside Jankienanan, with misbehaviour in public office by assaulting a prisoner in custody.

The charges, which were laid by Anti-Corruption Investigation Bureau (ACIB) Sgt Kirt Thomas, stem from a robbery at the casino on August 21. Southern Division officers had responded to the distress call and apprehended two suspects.

Investigations culminated on Friday, with Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Carla Brown-Antoine giving instructions to investigators at the ACIB to charge the officers.

ACIB detectives had used video surveillance footage from the casino, to assist in their investigations.

The accused, who are assigned to the San Fernando Divisional Task Force, based at the San Fernando Police Station, were then taken to the Belmont Police Station where the warrants for their arrests were signed and executed by Khan. Khan ordered that the men surrender their passports to the ACIB, and further ordered that they not communicate with the witnesses in the matter.

They will go before a Port-of-Spain Magistrate on Tuesday, to answer the charges.

The incident comes amid recent growing concerns over the integrity of the Police Service, following the discovery of a cache of firearms, ammunition and narcotics at the St Joseph Police Station on August 8, this year.

The discovery of the items forced the shuffle of 38 officers who were transferred out of the St Joseph Station.

That same week, Criminal Investigations Unit officers raided the home of a senior officer where exhibits to court matters were found.

Despite the growing criticism, however, no one has been charged in either of the discoveries.

CPL DEOPERSAD JANKIENANAN (right)... on $150,000 bail.




[IMG]PC REGAN RAMNANAN... on $150,000 bail[/IMG]


picture
PC ANSLEM DRAKES... on $150,000 bail.



These bastards don't even look like REAL Cops! bring nothing but shame to the T&T Police Force.

$.25M in ganja found on cement tug boat



By AZARD ALI Sunday, September 6 2009(T&T Newsday)



THERE was drama on the seas Friday night just off the Claxton Bay coast when Coast Guard and police officers boarded a vessel transporting clinker from Jamaica to Trinidad Cement Limited (TCL) and seized two crocus bags of marijuana.

The Tug boat Seven Mako, has since been impounded at the TCL jetty under police guard. The captain of the vessel who is from Nicaragua was arrested and up to yesterday incarcerated at a police station.

Sunday Newsday was informed by police sources that acting on a tip-off, customs and police officers boarded the vessel as it was approaching the Claxton Bay jetty. It was loaded with eight metric tonnes of clinker which is a rock-like substance used in the manufacturing of cement. The aggregate was bound for the TCL cement factory.

When the vessel was berthed, a thorough search was conducted of the clinker. It was discovered that two crocus bags were lying in the bottom ceiling of a bunker beneath the tonnes of clinker.

Police observed that its contents resembled compressed marijuana, the street value of which was put at approximately $250,000. The vessel’s captain whose name was given as Noel, was arrested. The vessel is said to be owned and operated by a foreign company.

Customs Officers disclosed that the vessel was loaded in Jamaica and it is believed the marijuana was smuggled during the loading exercise. Such loading is conducted in the presence of security and custom officers, Sunday Newsday was told, but clinker throws up tremendous dust which blurs the vision of persons supervising the loading.

“Regrettably, a senior customs officer said,” the vessel’s captain had to be detained though he more than likely is not responsible for it.” The crocus bags of marijuana have been taken to the Forensic Science Centre for analysis.

Investigations are being further conducted before any charge is laid. Officials of TCL could not be reached for comment yesterday.