PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad — Immediately following the shooting death of Senior Counsel Dana Seetahal in Trinidad, the minister of national security, Senator Gary Griffith launched all-out operations to ensure that the perpetrators are swiftly brought to justice.
Griffith advised that, in consultation with the National Security Council, the National Alert State has been raised to Amber.
The minister was emphatic in his statements that there would be no stone left unturned in this investigation and that the government and the state’s security apparatus would not sit idly by and allow crimes of this nature to become the norm or let criminals of this kind have their way in Trinidad and Tobago.
Griffith reiterated that the government, through the Ministry of National Security, has pledged every resource necessary to the law enforcement machinery of the state, and together have collectively given this the highest priority.
Griffith immediately called for the following:
• A meeting of all the intelligence agencies heads to use all mechanisms of intelligence on this matter — electronic, communications and human.
• A joint heads of security meeting to collate and optimize maximum support of all units, their assets and expertise, to be deployed in full tactical readiness in support of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service.
• Increased air, land and maritime patrols in all areas of interest; stop and search teams and increased road blocks.
• All citizens to abide, cooperate and be tolerant of law enforcement officers in the execution of their duties.
• All citizens to assist the law enforcement agencies, by passing information and reporting any suspicious activity related to Seetahal’s murder.
• Citizens in the strictest of confidentiality to call emergency numbers — Anti-crime Hotline 511, Police 999, Crime stoppers 800-8477, National Operations Centre 627-0408.
• The use of the private security network to maximize ground support to law enforcement.
• Closed-circuit television footage of all facilities — private, business, residential and national — will be thoroughly examined to track and investigate this crime. The national security experts of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service and the National Operations Centre have already started this process.
Dana Seetahal
Griffith emphasized that it would not be business as usual, and the criminal community would feel the full brunt of law enforcement and the forces of national security regarding this matter.
“We will hunt these criminals down and we will find the perpetrators of this crime!” he said.
After meeting with National Security Council yesterday afternoon, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar announced that the reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those involved has been increased from $1 million to $2.5 million
Persad-Bissessar also said that should the police need foreign help in cracking the case, it would be provided.
Source: caribbeannewsnow.com
