The 12 T&T nationals who were detained in Turkey last year and arrived in the country Friday night are under probe by security agencies. Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi said yesterday “There is an ongoing inquiry to be conducted and which is being conducted by law enforcement agencies. There is, of course, outstanding information from an official perspective from the Turkish Government.
“This matter is being balanced between the requirements for due process as well as the requirements for diligence.
“The Office of the Attorney General, of course, does have supervision from a statutory point of view for matters of anti-terrorism.”
He said the AG’s office continued to do the work that it was obliged to do and which it had been doing in relation to all matters of concern.
Al-Rawi said the members of the group were deported from Turkey via the UK and arrived in Trinidad Friday at approximately 4 pm.
He said they were met by an Inter-Agency team comprising Immigration/Customs/T&T Police Service and other security agencies who debriefed them in an interview process ending approximately 10:30 pm Friday, after which they were released.
The members of the group were detained in Turkey in July 2016 with a Syrian national said to have been an Isis terror network recruiter and were housed at Turkey’s Adana Detention Centre since then.
Al-Rawi said while Government did not have 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.
