A well-known Beetham community leader has been arrested by police and is expected to be questioned in connection with allegations of threats and shooting at contractors working on the Churchill Roosevelt Highway project over the weekend.
The man was arrested along with a friend during a joint police and army exercise in the area that started on Sunday and ended on Saturday at 11 am yesterday.
But residents, who weren’t happy with the army and police presence, claimed their homes were vandalised in the process by officers who were victimising. To make their point, they noted that a camera fixed on one of their homes was covered with a white plastic by one of the law enforcement officers during the exercise.
The T&T Guardian was told although the community leader and his friend were arrested for having just over ten grammes of marijuana, police confirmed they would be questioned in connection with several other serious crimes, including robbery and other firearm-related offences. Charges were expected to be laid last night.
The contingent included officers from the Port-of-Spain CID, Guard and Emergency Branch, Criminal Gang and Narcotics Units, Inter-Agency Task Force, Western and North Eastern Task Force and T&T Regiment.
Officers recovered 540 grammes of marijuana and several items believed to have been stolen, including toys, televisions, generators and beers. Police linked some of the items to a million-dollar break-in and robbery at a toy store in Woodbrook in 2016.
Contacted yesterday, DCP Wayne Dick confirmed several people were arrested and the police were investigating them in connection with “various offences, inclusive of reports of shootings and threats relative to contractors and their performance of their jobs in the Beetham area.”
Contractors working on a culvert along the highway were forced to abandon the site on Friday night after people went on the project and threatened them and tried to extort money from them. One construction worker, whose identity was not released, was shot and wounded during the incident. He was taken to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital where he was treated, warded and was discharged yesterday.
The contractors working on the National Infrastructure Development Company Limited (Nidco) and Ministry of Works and Transport project returned to the site on Saturday only after they were accompanied by a heavy contingent of armed police officers and soldiers. The incident was confirmed by Works Minister Rohan Sinanan.
