Six armoured personnel carriers (APCs) being purchased this year, to add to similar carriers the T&T Defence Force previously had, will be used for situations including counter-terrorism activity or bombings, explosive devices or hostages, says National Security Minister Gary Griffith. The ministry is also acquiring 20 armoured vehicles, similar to Sports Utility vehicles (SUVs), with bullet-proof glass, he said correcting reports yesterday that the country was acquiring 52 APCs.
Police have come under gunfire in recent months in various areas and police cars have been riddled with bullets. Griffith has been saying armoured carriers would be obtained. The ministry advertised the APCs this week, saying they would be used to protect troops “from today’s high-powered rifles, grenades and explosives in hostile and potentially hazardous conditions and allow them to reach their objectives on time and ready to perform their operation.”
APCs are built to transport protective services or troops. While not designed for direct-fire battle, they are geared for self-defence and to protect passengers from small-arms fire or shrapnel. Griffith said the APCs were an upgrade of a previous type of asset owned and operated by the T&T Defence Force and were mandatory for armies all over the world, not just countries with “hot spots”.
He added, “On assumption of office I renewed the concept and interest in this capability and allowed the TTDF experts to evaluate and submit specifications for the asset most applicable to our local domain. “The acquisition is all part of the unified effort of delivery on the mandate of this government to restore T&T to a safer and more secure nation for all.” He said the acquisition was being done in consultation with stakeholders who have to use the vehicles and the army has welcomed them.
Griffith said the US had offered to donate vehicles it had used in the Middle East but they were not suited to the terrain in some parts of T&T.
Based on specifications required for such vehicles and threat assessment levels in T&T, he said Defence Force personnel went to agencies in the US and UK recommended by authorities of those countries, to examine types of vehicles. No supplier has yet been selected, he said, and costs have not been quantified, though one vehicle is estimated to cost around $1 million. His ministry received $6.9 billion in the 2014-2015 budget.
Griffith said the vehicles would be used by protective service officers based on the threat assessment level in the event security forces have to deal with various situations, and the Commissioner of Police and Chief of Defence Staff will be in charge. The six APCs will be used by the army, and other vehicles by National Operations Centre’s Special Operations Centre (SOC).
The SOC was formed recently to deal specifically with hostage negotiations, terrorist activities and threats by explosive devices or where any group tries to destabilise any part of T&T with heavy gunfire. Vehicles will arrive in T&T as soon as acquisition is finalised and security sectors are trained in their use and maintenance.
PNM concerned
PNM PRO Faris Al-Rawi said: “The PNM remains concerned as to the mind and management of national security operations, particularly in view of the catastrophic detection and conviction rate, which is seriously exacerbated by the Prime Minister’s silent acceptance of the financial purse for the National Operations Centre by the expansion of the heading of the transfers and subsidies in the Office of the Prime Minister, as disclosed in the particulars of the budget documents.
“The PNM is critically concerned that law enforcement receives the very best support for its operations and that the safety of prosecutions is paramount for all its operatives.
“We call on the Prime Minister, as head of the National Security Council, to speak to the particulars of the co-ordination of our national security assets, in similar fashion to the description of the architecture that the PNM was able to consistently give in relation to national security, matrixes from offshore patrol vessels, border security, port management, airport security and everything in between.
“This Government remains in search of a plan and is playing russian roulette with the safety and lives of citizens.”
