The 12 people who arrived in T&T after being deported from Turkey were last night being interrogated by security agencies in standard procedure for deportees, Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi said
“Turkish authorities didn’t give official information on the group. So what we were dealing with was the return of 12 people who were purportedly nationals of T&T,” Al-Rawi added yesterday.
“The relevant authorities would have taken information (at the airport last night), checked passports to see if they are bona fide, checked what the intelligence data produces and gone through all required processes.
“We’ll make a determination after—but it’s premature to make a conclusion (on their trip) one way or the other now.”
Al-Rawi declined comment on United National Congress MP Roodal Moonilal’s description of the group yesterday as “terrorists.”
They were detained in Turkey in July 2016 with a Syrian national said to have been an ISIS terror network recruiter. They were housed at Turkey’s Adana Detention Centre since then.
The group—originally reported as nine—was actually 12, Al-Rawi confirmed, including two babies. The babies are reported to be five and ten months old.
Other information the T&T Guardian received was that some members of the group—which was largely female— are from Diego Martin, Rio Claro and Central Trinidad. Ages of members were reported as being between four months and 32 years and included teens.
Al-Rawi said Turkey had deported the group through the UK, which assisted Government to return them to T&T. They arrived on a flight from London escorted by Turkish officials. He said T&T didn’t pay any deportation costs.
The AG said while Government hadn’t had official confirmed information from the Turkish authorities on the group, information was sent by T&T’s honorary consul in Turkey. With the lack of information from Turkey, he said Government was obliged to manage the situation with “full investigation.”
He said Government had been planning the logistics of the return some time and preparations had been made in advance for yesterday’s arrival. Agencies involved in activities concerning yesterday’s return included Immigration, Customs, police, Special Branch and other divisions affiliated with the Airports Authority (AATT).
“We put in place resources at the airport to do the necessary interviews and interrogation—standard practice for any deportee returning —and had strong supervision at the airport,” AG said.
Information from interviews, intelligence obtained at the airport and background work done on the group over several months will be compiled and further reports will come to authorities on that, he added.
However, Al-Rawi said it was quite unusual that there’s been no complaint by any citizen that 12 nationals had been missing. He noted that in comparison there was much comment and outreach when five nationals were detained in Venezuela between 2014 and last year.
“So in these circumstances, one must exercise caution. We’re in close co-ordination with our counterparts and have done many months of work to process these people in a coordinated fashion,” he said.
“There are many hypotheticals. It all depends on the interviews, out of which will come more information,”
The AG also said Cabinet hasn’t yet approved the second phase of anti-terrorism amendments geared at dealing with people who return from fighting with ISIS. That’s being examined by the Legislative Review committee.
He was also uncertain if Parliament will debate and pass the first set of anti-terrorism amendments - now on Parliament’s agenda - before the current session takes the mid-year break in July. He said Parliament’s agenda was “tight.”
Al-Rawi said he didn’t expect the group’s return would affect US-TT relations, since T&T’s foreign partners are working closely with T&T on anti-terrorism action.
Moonilal hopes govt can protect citizens from terrorists
What are Government’s plans to protect T&T and the business community following the return of the 12 people from Turkey?
That was UNC MP Roodal Moonilal’s query during yesterday’s Parliament debate.
He said Turkey was deporting the group who had been named as “terrorists” and who had terrorist training.
Moonilal queried if Government was prepared for the entry of those persons and had logistics in place to protect the country from such deportees, who were a “serious threat to the nation and business community.”
Moonilal said Government needed to say if it could protect citizens and deal with the “crisis” that arises with the group’s return.
UNC Chaguanas West MP Ganga Singh—from whose constituency some of the group are said have been resident prior to leaving—said he hoped the group’s experience in Turkey would have taught them that T&T “... is a place that must be cherished and after their experience in Turkey, I hope they’ll take the opportunity to build T&T so we can all live in harmony.”
