Senior sources of the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force (TTDF) say that officials in the Ministry of National Security have asked for a report after a Guardian Media Investigation about a vehicle racket uncovered at the force’s Cumuto barracks.
Yesterday the TTDF maintained that it remains transparent and accountable to the population in matters even surrounding its own officers- as the organisation responded to a televised and published report.
But while the force made reference to a missing vehicle in 2018 that was ventilated in the public domain- in which an investigation had since been launched, the TTDF still did not address the issue of the missing army trucks removed from the Cumuto barracks sometime between 2006-2007 raised in the Guardian Media investigation.
The month-long Guardian Media investigation revealed that some 24 Caroni 1975 Limited vehicles were turned over to the TTDF after the sugar giant shut down its manufacturing operations in the early 2000s.
Senior sources at the TTDF said that two of the trucks that were outfitted with regiment plates 5TTR-94 and 5TTR-95 were removed from the Cumuto barracks without authorization.
The trucks were traced to a Central garage in Montrose Chaguanas in 2017 by officers of the TTDF where only the chassis of these vehicles were found. There was never any action taken against officers possibly involved in this illicit operation.
All the Caroni vehicles that were in the possession of the TTDF- had never been transferred according to the certified copies received by Guardian Media.
While the TTDF indicated in its media release it remains a professional military operation- it still failed to address the issues surrounding the missing trucks that formed part of Guardian Media investigation.
