Residents of Bhagaloo Street, Gittens Lane and Chris Terrace West in Enterprise, Chaguanas, yesterday made a desperate plea for soldiers to come to their rescue.
The residents practically begged a Guardian Media Ltd team to act on their behalf and make their request public, with the hope that the Government and National Security personnel would heed their request.
“Bring in the soldiers!” shouted one resident.
Another resident said, “We need the soldiers’ intervention. Once they could come in here and not beat up the innocent people here, and once they could come and really do their jobs, we will have no problem with them coming into the area to set up camp in a bid to restore the peace we once had, the love and the unity that existed up to two weeks ago.”
An upsurge in alleged gang warfare over the past two weeks has left the houses, cars and parlours of several residents riddled with bullets. Several families have already moved out of the area, some going as far as Tobago.
A raid on the weekend by a combined force of police, soldiers and other agencies netted ten suspects, two home-made guns and a small quantity of cocaine. Police involved in the exercise said gang members were tipped off by other officers.
“They fed up. By 7 pm everybody have to be inside. The people fed up with gunmen riding and walking past their houses and shooting it up. They are afraid for their lives, so some of them decided to move out and return when peace is restored,” one resident, who asked not to be identified, said.
Another resident, who was prompted, coaxed and applauded by the large group of residents who came out to speak with the T&T Guardian and CNC3, eventually spoke of the worsening situation on camera but refused to disclose his name.
“I want the police to put everyone of them at rest because they are bringing shame to Islam. They praying and then coming in here with their guns and shooting people, shooting homes all in the name of Jihad. They are terrorists, they are Isis, they are everything else but true Muslims like some of us. I can make a bet that none of them can quote a verse in the Q’uran. I call them kofar, meaning nothing good,” the resident said.
“If we were looking for war, we would have been going over on their side and shooting them up too but we not on that. They coming through Boss Lane and shooting up houses and then onto the block here (Chris Terrace West). We want back our street and if I have to be killed for speaking the truth, well so be it,” he said.
“It’s all about extortion. They coming here and trying to extort money and stuff from the elders. They went to one woman and demanded that she pay them $12,000. For what? To live in their own homes?” he said.
A 67-year-old woman, who did not want to be identified, said she had lived in the area for 33 years and it was the first time the area was experiencing this kind of rivalry.
“My grandson was shot twice in two weeks. All this is nonsense. I helped some of them to go to school and they just turn on us. Recently, I picked up a shell in my yard and I didn’t know what it was. I was told that it was a bullet shell from a gun. When we hear the dogs barking we cannot even peep out from our windows because they shooting up the place. We need the police and soldiers to come help us. Here was never like this.”
Another resident identified as Rolly Brown, 57, said he was a Muslim and he did not condone what was happening in the area.
Over the past few days, members of an opposing gang released two videos on Facebook where they spoke of the ongoing war. They claimed that they were being attacked by gang members from Bhagaloo Street. They also named police officers allegedly associated with residents there.