JavaScript is disabled in your web browser or browser is too old to support JavaScript. Today almost all web pages contain JavaScript, a scripting programming language that runs on visitor's web browser. It makes web pages functional for specific purposes and if disabled for some reason, the content or the functionality of the web page can be limited or unavailable.

Sunday, March 16, 2025

126 held, 17 firearms, 675 rounds of ammunition seized during SoE operations

by

Chester Sambrano
70 days ago
20250104

Photo courtesy: TTPS

With over 126 sus­pects ar­rest­ed, 17 firearms and over 675 rounds of as­sort­ed am­mu­ni­tion seized since the State of Emer­gency (SOE) was de­clared on Mon­day 30th De­cem­ber, 2024, Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice, Er­la Hare­wood-Christo­pher says, ‘the fight is just get­ting start­ed.’

In a me­dia re­lease to­day, the TTPS said the suc­cess­es are a re­sult of 257 an­ti-crime Op­er­a­tions con­duct­ed across the ten Di­vi­sions of the Trinidad and To­ba­go Po­lice Ser­vice (TTPS), in­volv­ing thou­sands of of­fi­cers from var­i­ous Branch­es, Sec­tions and Units, aid­ed by per­son­nel from the Trinidad and To­ba­go De­fence Force and part­ner law-en­force­ment agen­cies.

It said to date, a to­tal of 126 sus­pects have been ar­rest­ed un­der the SOE Reg­u­la­tions, with 275 pri­or­i­ty of­fend­ers be­ing tar­get­ed by of­fi­cers as a re­sult of in­tel­li­gence-led ex­er­cis­es.

Sev­en­teen firearms, 675 rounds of as­sort­ed am­mu­ni­tion and quan­ti­ties of cannabis and co­caine were al­so seized dur­ing these ex­ten­sive ex­er­cis­es, which in­clud­ed 1011 search­es.

Com­mis­sion­er Hare­wood-Christo­pher said, “The Pow­ers grant­ed to of­fi­cers un­der the SOE Reg­u­la­tions is al­low­ing us to push back against the pro­lif­er­a­tion of gang and gun vi­o­lence in our coun­try. We have main­tained that our ac­tions are to en­sure the safe­ty and se­cu­ri­ty of all the law-abid­ing cit­i­zens of Trinidad and To­ba­go.

She said, “I thank the tire­less and ded­i­cat­ed of­fi­cers who have been de­ployed day and night to pro­tect the cit­i­zens of this na­tion. Your sac­ri­fice and that of your fam­i­lies is great­ly ap­pre­ci­at­ed at this time and the Ex­ec­u­tive of the TTPS will con­tin­ue to pro­vide the sup­port you need to do your du­ties. To­geth­er, we can use this time, to win the bat­tle against the crim­i­nal el­e­ments. I there­fore ap­peal to all cit­i­zens to work with law en­force­ment to bring an end to the sense­less vi­o­lence that caus­es us all so much pain”.

DCP, Op­er­a­tions, Ju­nior Ben­j­main added, “I wish to as­sure the cit­i­zens of Trinidad and To­ba­go that the Trinidad and To­ba­go Po­lice Ser­vice is work­ing dili­gent­ly and strate­gi­cal­ly to re­store safe­ty and se­cu­ri­ty across our na­tion. Pub­lic co­op­er­a­tion is vi­tal dur­ing this pe­ri­od. I en­cour­age every­one to work with us by shar­ing any in­for­ma­tion that may as­sist in ap­pre­hend­ing of­fend­ers lo­cat­ing il­le­gal firearms or un­cov­er­ing crim­i­nal ac­tiv­i­ty.

Your part­ner­ship is cru­cial, and every piece of in­for­ma­tion, no mat­ter how small, could make a sig­nif­i­cant dif­fer­ence. While DCP, In­tel­li­gence and In­ves­ti­ga­tions, Suzette Mar­tin stat­ed, ‘the TTPS is com­mit­ted to op­er­at­ing with­in the bound­aries of the law. While we have been grant­ed en­hanced pow­ers un­der the State of Emer­gency, these pow­ers will not be abused. Law-abid­ing cit­i­zens have noth­ing to fear from our of­fi­cers. Our fo­cus re­mains firm­ly on crim­i­nals, and our ac­tions are guid­ed by pro­fes­sion­al­ism, ac­count­abil­i­ty, and re­spect for the rights of all law-abid­ing cit­i­zens.

The CoP fur­ther stat­ed, “The Ex­ec­u­tive of the TTPS is care­ful­ly mon­i­tor­ing our progress dur­ing this SOE pe­ri­od, en­sur­ing that all ac­tions are tak­en with­in the law. We give all law-abid­ing cit­i­zens of Trinidad and To­ba­go the as­sur­ance that the TTPS stands com­mit­ted and ready to pro­tect your rights, while we go af­ter the crim­i­nals who care lit­tle for your lives.”

Instagram


Related articles

Sponsored

Weather

PORT OF SPAIN WEATHER

Sponsored