Shas­tri Boodan &

Shane Su­perville

Po­lice say they are clos­ing in on two re­main­ing sus­pects linked to a se­ries of vi­o­lent home in­va­sions across Cen­tral Trinidad, as in­ves­ti­ga­tors in­ten­si­fy op­er­a­tions fol­low­ing the dis­man­tling of a crim­i­nal gang be­lieved to be be­hind the at­tacks.

Head of the Na­tion­al Op­er­a­tions Cen­tre, John­ny Abra­ham, told Guardian Me­dia yes­ter­day that an ar­rest is im­mi­nent.

Abra­ham said of­fi­cers are work­ing around the clock to en­sure the sus­pects are brought to jus­tice.

The de­vel­op­ments fol­low a ma­jor po­lice op­er­a­tion over the week­end in Cunu­pia that left four al­leged mem­bers of the “Tall Boots Crew” dead and two oth­ers in cus­tody.

Po­lice said the gang had been ter­ror­is­ing res­i­dents in Cunu­pia, Ch­agua­nas, Freeport and as far north as Las Lo­mas over a six-week pe­ri­od.

Po­lice be­lieve the group is re­spon­si­ble for ap­prox­i­mate­ly 24 re­port­ed home in­va­sions since late March.

The gang’s ac­tiv­i­ties came to a halt on Sat­ur­day morn­ing af­ter of­fi­cers re­spond­ed to a re­port of a home in­va­sion off Es­mer­al­da Road, Cunu­pia. In­ves­ti­ga­tors said around 3.30 am, eight armed men stormed the res­i­dence of a 70-year-old farmer and stole $1,120 in cash be­fore flee­ing.

Of­fi­cers from the Cen­tral Di­vi­sion, sup­port­ed by the Home In­va­sion Team (HIT) and sol­diers of the Trinidad and To­ba­go Reg­i­ment, launched an im­me­di­ate re­sponse and pur­sued the sus­pects. The group was in­ter­cept­ed near Ram­nar­ine Trace, where a shootout oc­curred.

Three sus­pects were killed dur­ing the ex­change, while two were ar­rest­ed.

Po­lice said a sub­se­quent se­ries of co­or­di­nat­ed drag­nets led to the death of a fourth sus­pect lat­er that day. Four pis­tols were al­so re­cov­ered dur­ing the op­er­a­tions.

Two oth­er sus­pects man­aged to es­cape.

The TTPS iden­ti­fied three of those killed as Mikhail Giuseppe of Wa­ter­hole, Co­corite; Davion Giuseppe, 30, of Lee Trace, North Cunu­pia; and Kevin “Frog Man” John, 35, of Cunu­pia.

Mean­while, up to yes­ter­day, there had been no con­clu­sive iden­ti­ty for a fourth sus­pect killed by po­lice dur­ing the shootout.

Po­lice said while an iden­ti­ty has been sug­gest­ed, it has not been ver­i­fied and is there­fore be­ing kept con­fi­den­tial un­til it can be con­firmed.

Yes­ter­day, Guardian Me­dia went to Co­corite to speak with Mikhail Giuseppe’s rel­a­tives. A man who iden­ti­fied him­self as one of Giuseppe’s rel­a­tives de­clined to speak with any­one.