National Security Minister Carl Alfonso says the police should probe reports that a police dragnet in crime hotspot Enterprise, Chaguanas, on Sunday was compromised after criminals were tipped off by police.
He made the comment yesterday as he responded to questions on a T&T Guardian story yesterday which revealed that officers involved in the police exercise claimed that sensitive information had been leaked by their colleagues to the criminals they were targeting.
“We need to find out what exactly went on in the exercise,” Alfonso said in a telephone interview yesterday.
“If there is a leak then we need to discover it. I am sure the Police Commissioner is as concerned as I am. I would like to know what really happened.”
Also contacted yesterday, acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams said he could not comment on the matter because he was not in the country. Attempts to contact Deputy Police Commissioner Glenn Hackett were also unsuccessful.
The dragnet had been organised in response to a spate of recent violence and shootings within the Central region over the past month, believed to have been sparked by two warring gangs.
But at least two senior officers involved in the exercise confirmed to the T&T Guardian that the dragnet, which took days to organise, was compromised because the criminals got key intelligence from some of their colleagues. This, they said, denied them to opportunity to round up more criminals during the exercise.
Yesterday, however, head of the Central Division, Snr Supt Johnny Abraham, denied that information was leaked to criminals.
“If information was leaked, we may not have arrested persons for firearms,” Abraham said, adding ten people were charged as a result of the exercise.
Four people yesterday appeared before court, two charged for possession of home-made firearms and two for possession of cocaine, arising out of the exercise. Five others are also still detained and being questioned by the police, but they were not charged. One other person was held by immigration on Sunday.
A senior officer said yesterday, however, that in any big operation there will always be leaks or at least some information regarding heightened police activity getting out to the public.
The matter has also caught the attention of Police Complaints Authority director David West, who yesterday advised officers who had information about the leak to “come in to the PCA and give a comprehensive statement and the PCA will investigate the matter once it falls within our legal remit.”
From 10 pm Saturday to Sunday at 10 am, more than 250 officers attached to different agencies engaged in the exercise in Enterprise, which was led by the Central Division.
The agencies included the T&T Regiment, Immigration, K-9 Unit, Inter-Agency Task Force, Guard and Emergency Branch, four other police divisions and the National Operations Centre.