Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice Al­lis­ter Gue­var­ro is­sued a stern warn­ing to crim­i­nals to­day, say­ing those who choose a life of crime will “en­counter my of­fi­cers” and face “the full weight of the law,” fol­low­ing the suc­cess­ful res­cue of Caribbean Air­lines pi­lot Cap­tain Daniel Kawall in the Mar­aval dis­trict, the Trinidad and To­ba­go Po­lice Ser­vice (TTPS) con­firmed.

“This morn­ing’s op­er­a­tion ex­em­pli­fies the TTPS’ re­solve and op­er­a­tional pre­ci­sion in con­fronting vi­o­lent crime,” Com­mis­sion­er Gue­var­ro said. “I com­mend the brav­ery of our of­fi­cers and reaf­firm our com­mit­ment to the safe­ty of every cit­i­zen and the pur­suit of jus­tice.”

He added a di­rect warn­ing to crim­i­nal el­e­ments: “Let this serve as a clear warn­ing that Law En­force­ment will not tol­er­ate the re­turn of kid­nap­pings for ran­som as what ex­ist­ed in the past. I al­so will ex­tend that warn­ing to all those who choose a life of crime, as such a lifestyle will sure­ly lead you along a path where you will en­counter my of­fi­cers. The TTPS will meet you with the req­ui­site force, re­solve, and the full weight of the law. Turn away now, while you still have that choice.”

The TTPS said the mul­ti-agency op­er­a­tion in­volved the An­ti-Kid­nap­ping Unit, In­ter-Agency Task Force, Spe­cial In­tel­li­gence Unit, Port of Spain and West­ern Di­vi­sion task forces, and the Air Sup­port Unit.

Of­fi­cers en­coun­tered armed re­sis­tance dur­ing the in­ter­ven­tion, re­sult­ing in one sus­pect be­ing in­jured and lat­er dy­ing at a med­ical fa­cil­i­ty.

Three sus­pects are in cus­tody and as­sist­ing in­ves­ti­ga­tors, while two oth­ers re­main at large af­ter flee­ing in­to a near­by forest­ed area.

Ground and aer­i­al units re­main de­ployed in pur­suit.

Cap­tain Kawall was tak­en for med­ical ex­am­i­na­tion and is cur­rent­ly re­ceiv­ing care be­fore re­unit­ing with his fam­i­ly.

The TTPS urged the pub­lic to re­main vig­i­lant and re­port any in­for­ma­tion that may help lo­cate the re­main­ing sus­pects.

Up­dates will be pro­vid­ed as the in­ves­ti­ga­tion pro­gress­es.