Jensen la Vende

Se­nior Re­porter

jensen.lavende@guardian.co.tt

Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty Min­is­ter Fitzger­ald Hinds yes­ter­day ac­cused a “high-rank­ing UNC of­fi­cial” of plot­ting to mur­der some­one.

Speak­ing dur­ing the 2025 Bud­get de­bate, Hinds, in de­fend­ing the Gov­ern­ment’s han­dling of the es­ca­lat­ing crime woes, said he was ap­proached by a crim­i­nal who con­fid­ed in him the de­tails of the mur­der plot, which he (Hinds) passed on to the po­lice.

“This is se­ri­ous thing,” Hinds be­gan, thump­ing his chest.

“Some of them who speaks the loud­est, com­plic­i­tous. A re­port was made to me and then I called the po­lice and the po­lice in­ves­ti­gat­ed and con­tin­ue to in­ves­ti­gate as we speak now.”

He added, “A crim­i­nal in this coun­try swore to the po­lice that a UNC high of­fi­cial paid him $60,000 to com­mit a mur­der out­side. That mat­ter is un­der in­ves­ti­ga­tion, who wants to find out could go. That is what we are talk­ing about, the treach­ery and de­ceit, that’s why I don’t lis­ten to them.”

As he spoke, for­mer na­tion­al se­cu­ri­ty min­is­ter Stu­art Young was heard say­ing the words “a for­mer sen­a­tor,” as Hinds men­tioned that po­lice was in­ves­ti­gat­ing the mat­ter. As Hinds men­tioned the crim­i­nal, Young again mum­bled, say­ing “in the prison.” He again mum­bled “hm­mm,” when Hinds men­tioned the cost of the “hit.”

Asked for a com­ment on the al­le­ga­tion via What­sApp af­ter­wards, Oropouche East MP Roodal Mooni­lal rub­bished the claim.

“It is an abom­inable and out­ra­geous re­mark! No one be­lieves any­thing Hinds says. He is a fail­ure.”

Hinds did not re­spond when con­tact­ed for more in­for­ma­tion on his claims.

Barataria/San Juan MP Sad­dam Ho­sein, who spoke im­me­di­ate­ly af­ter Hinds, was al­so con­tact­ed but he did not re­spond.