Senior Reporter
sascha.wilson@guardian.co.tt
Moruga businessman Terrence Thomas and his worker were kidnapped and robbed by five gunmen dressed in police attire and camouflage on Monday night. He is now questioning if the lawmen were fake or real.
The one-hour ordeal started at his business place and ended at his home. The 55-year-old businessman recalled that around 9 pm he was at his business place, Top Shotters Furniture Shop in St Mary’s Village, with his worker, Lester Placide, when the men pushed open the door.
He said two men wore police clothing with the words ‘Police’ emblazoned, while the other three wore camouflage. “They say, ‘police’. I have a search warrant; we searching for guns and ammunition.” When he asked to see the warrant and their names, he said they got angry, pushed him, and then handcuffed him.
He said he told them he did not have a gun or safe. They ransacked his place and found some money, which they took.
The gunmen then said they were taking him to the police station and forced him in the back seat of his Toyota Hilux Evolution. They placed Placide in the trunk of the black Hyundai Elantra that they came with.
On the way, Thomas, a father of four, said when he pointed out to them that the station was in the other direction, they told him they were going to search his home.
When they got to his home, he said they took him inside, along with Placide. They forced Placide, his wife, and their children to lie on the floor and tie their hands with tie straps.
They kept demanding the safe and guns, and he again told them he had none. They tied a rag across his mouth and began ransacking the house. They stole his chain from his neck.
Thomas was ordered to lie down on the bed, and they placed a gun to his ear and told him they were going to kill him because he was not cooperating. “When they say, ‘I will shoot you,’ I say that’s it. I say my prayers. I say, Father Lord, I don’t want to die like this from no gunshot.”
He said they also stole his DVR system and van and left.
Thomas said they managed to untie themselves and alerted their neighbours. The traumatised businessman said the men behaved like police officers and even referred to each other as sergeant and corporal. “You cannot say who is real and who is fake; they have the whole outfit like police, talking like them, dressing like them.”
Questioning what he should do if the “police” came to his premises again, he said, “I may not take that so.” He said he might retaliate and then find out “it could be real police.”
Thomas said police officers should not be allowed to wear masks when doing their job. He believes if the police “step up” their performance crime will decrease.
Thomas’s van and one of the cellphones were found in the Mandingo and Lengua Village areas yesterday morning.
‘TTPS not allowing
officers to wear
balaclavas anymore’
Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner of Police Curt Simon assured that bandits were not using genuine police kits to carry out these crimes but understood the public’s concern. He said the TTPS was addressing the matter.
“People are dressing in tactical outfits which are basically dark-coloured clothing, cargo pants, and full-length dark-coloured jerseys, whether blue or black, and some are getting emblems marked police on them. But when they are more closely examined, they are not official police kits.”
Acknowledging that the public can mistake the clothing for police uniforms, Simon said, “It is something that we are looking at and finding different ways and means of dealing with it, and of course, one of course is detecting the persons doing it. Our intelligence is leading us to different areas; I cannot speak too much on that now.” He said the matter was of concern to the TTPS.
Simon explained that during COVID-19 police officers were allowed to wear balaclava masks, but the Commissioner of Police has since banned that attire by police officers on duty.
“So persons with masks pretending to be police officers certainly are not. We do not allow our officers to wear balaclavas anymore,” he said.
MP: Police losing control
Meanwhile, Moruga/Tableland MP Michelle Benjamin has expressed deep concern over this incident. In a press statement yesterday, she said when criminals can impersonate law enforcement officers and commit heinous acts, it is a clear indication that they are losing control of communities.
She called for an urgent review of the TTPS’s operations in rural areas and demanded an immediate increase in police presence in Moruga/Tableland, as well as comprehensive crime-fighting strategies to protect vulnerable citizens.