OPPOSITION LEADER: NO SURPRISE TOP COP DETAINED

CCNTV6

While many were taken aback by the news of the Top Cop being detained for questioning, Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar says, the news came as no surprise to her.      She referenced comments she made during a UNC Monday Night Forum earlier this month. Rynessa Cutting reports.

Transcript

00:00Opposition leader Kamala Prasad Bissessa is making a link between the SSA debacle,

00:05the detainment of top copper Lahirwood Christopher for questioning and the

00:10gun amnesty provision which has since been removed from the SOE regulations.

00:14Prasad Bissessa says the most recent developments are no surprise to her as

00:20she referenced comments she made during a UNC Monday night forum on January 6th.

00:25So tonight I ask this, why did you include regulation 11 to give what I'm

00:32calling a gun amnesty which is to say if you bring in the gun, the prohibited gun,

00:38it's alright fellas, bye, nice, well done, good boy. Why did you put it there? Is

00:45there any senior government official under investigation for possessing a

00:51prohibited weapon? And is this regulation 11 is to ease them up and say

00:57good boy, well done, bring it home, drop it on the desk. At that time the

01:00opposition leader had also pointed to the involvement of people she loosely

01:04described as senior police officials. Who from the TTPS approved a permit to

01:12purchase this rifle? Who? Who is the dealer who imported this automatic firearm

01:19and sold it to a senior official? So is this proposed regulation 11 aimed at

01:26helping senior officials, senior TTPS officials, gun dealers to evade

01:34prosecution for possession of this prohibited automatic firearm. Prasad

01:40Bissessa had indicated then her intention to escalate the matter. My

01:45lawyers and I are looking at writing to the DPP formally about this provision

01:50because I suspect it is intended to protect some very high up office holders.

01:58On January 16th a release from the Office of the Attorney General and the

02:02Ministry of Legal Affairs indicated that regulation 11 had been deleted from the

02:08SRE regulations saying that the regulation was inconsistent with the

02:12current government policy which opposes the offering of firearms amnesties. The

02:18Attorney General further noted that while regulation 11 was included in the

02:22original 2024 emergency regulations it was never put into effect and as such

02:29all firearms recovered under the 2024 SOE have been as a result of seizures by

02:35law enforcement and not through the surrender of firearms.

02:39Renessa Cutting, TV6 News.

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