The reign of terror in Central is being linked to one man who is well known to San Fernando police. The 31-year-old man has a long rap sheet in the South area but has never been charged for any crime in the Central Division.
The man’s voice, according to South police and a close relative, can also be heard directing young Muslim boys in a viral terrorist video on social media. While Central Division top cop Johnny Abraham led the arrest of four men from the area yesterday, the Sunday Guardian learned that this man is not among those held by police.
On the much-shared video, a voice with a Trinidadian accent can be heard instructing young armed boys to run from under cover, shoot and run back to safety. But while the voice belongs to a Trinidadian, according to police sources, the actual training video was not recorded anywhere in T&T.
Police sources said that they have identified the man, who has a long list of charges against him, as the man in the middle of the recent wave of gun violence in Enterprise, Chaguanas.
The Sunday Guardian met with stony silence from several quarters after a week of visits to the new hot spot, but on Wednesday, Muslim businessman Selwyn “Robocop” Alexis spoke out about the recent hike in the Central murder rate. He also linked the murder spike to that same man but believed the elusive Muslim man had already fled the Central area.
“It is one man who behind all this. He tried starting little cells in other places. He was in Diego Martin, then moved to San Juan, went South for a while and now here,” Alexis said.
The Sunday Guardian learned that the man is attempting to start a cocaine ring in the area and has been converting and arming young men under the guise of Islam fundamentalism.
“It is easy to convert young, poor black men. Indian Muslims have that family foundation already because they were born into the religion, but these poor young men looking for something and some of them would tell you right off that working not paying enough or that it is women work, so it easy to get them into this lifestyle of guns and drugs,” Alexis said.
Alexis has been linked to several criminal cases in the past but now owns and manages a grocery in Enterprise. He is a popular man in the area and a Muslim elder.
However, two weeks ago, when attempting to bridge the gap between two factions in Enterprise, someone fired gunshots at him.
“It’s that one man,” Alexis said.
The Sunday Guardian also learned that a relative of Alexis is a known elder in the area and is currently being challenged for control of the area by the newcomer.
“But he new to the area, he doesn’t know anyone here, doesn’t understand how we do things here,” Alexis said.
Guns for hire
An early Sunday morning police raid in the area turned sour last week when news surfaced that someone had tipped off the gun-toters.
The Sunday Guardian learned that it was someone in the Police Service who tipped off the newcomer to the area, who then informed the young men about the raid and took back the guns he had given them.
“It’s a very simple scenario: if the police raid goes off as it supposed to, the police get the guns. If the man who put the guns out there tells the youths that the police coming and that they have to bring in the guns so he could hide them then what happens? Police raid fails but he gets back his guns,” one police insider said.
When asked if this meant that someone in the Police Service was in touch with the same man they were looking for, the police insider shrugged.
“Ent that making sense to you?” he said.
The Sunday Guardian learned that the man has a lengthy criminal record dating back a decade and pre-dating his conversion to Islam.
“He was wanted for firearms, kidnapping and drugs,” one senior police officer said. Checks by the Sunday Guardian revealed that the man was just 21 years old when he was first held for kidnapping a policeman’s daughter in the early 2000’s and holding her for ransom. He was also charged in the early 2000’s of kidnapping an 11-year-old boy.
There is very little information on how the man was able to escape the charges, but the Sunday Guardian was told that he was subsequently detained in the United Kingdom on drug charges and eventually deported back to Trinidad.