Businessman and Firearms Training Institute (FTI) owner Towfeek Ali yesterday was freed of charges of possessing two illegal firearms. Ali, who broke down into tears after hearing the verdict, told reporters outside the Hall of Justice, Port-of-Spain, he was happy to be vindicated of the charge which had been hanging over him for over six years. Ali called on the Police Commissioner and Police Complaints Authority to investigate the officers who were still employed in the Police Service who were involved in his arrest and subsequent prosecution. Ali also promised to intensify his civil action against the officers for breaches in procedure during the raid of his businessplace. The nine-member jury in the Port-of-Spain Sixth Criminal Court before Justice Hayden St Clair-Douglas took a little over one hour to return with the not guilty verdict.
During the trial, which began on May 9, Ali's attorney Pamela Elder, SC, questioned police officers attached to the now disbanded Firearms Interdiction Unit (FIU) who charged Ali with the offence after allegedly finding the illegal firearms on him during a raid on the institute's Chaguanas office on December 13, 2004. The police alleged the firearms were found in Ali's front pocket after he was searched. Under intense cross-examination by Elder, retired police superintendent Chandraban Maharaj, who spearheaded the raid, was questioned about his eccentric behaviour while in the service, including a judgment in a previous criminal trial in which a magistrate questioned his credibility as a witness.
Maharaj, who opposed Elder's line of questioning, had to be reprimanded several times by St Clair-Douglas for inappropriate behaviour while testifying. Throughout the trial, Elder raised inconsistencies in the testimony of Maharaj and junior officers of the FIU about how the events unfolded on the night of the raid. Ali's wife, while testifying on behalf of the defence, told the court she thought the business place was being robbed that night after the heavily armed officers approached her vehicle and demanded she leave the car. Alfonso said she refused to leave her car as the officers, who were all dressed in plainclothes, searched it. No illegal items were found.