The TTPS is reporting a series of major seizures and arrests in the first 24 hours of the State of Emergency, which began on Friday. Among the finds; six illegal firearms, including a high-powered rifle. And as one detainee challenged his transfer in court, a High Court Judge ruled decisively on the matter. Juhel Browne has the details.
00:00The police service says a high-powered rifle loaded with 10 rounds of ammunition was discovered and was seized by officers of the Guard and Emergency Branch during a police operation conducted in Kokorita on Friday under the Emergency Powers Regulations 2025 for the state of emergency which took effect in Trinidad and Tobago on Friday.
00:19The TTPS said on Saturday this was one of six illegal firearms including pistols, a revolver and a shotgun seized in addition to the seizure of 33 rounds of ammunition.
00:31The TTPS also said that national deployments during the first 24 hours of the state of emergency resulted in 104 coordinated law enforcement exercises yielding 629 searches, 407 traffic offenses detected from strategic roadblock operations and 56 arrests.
00:51The police service added that these actions formed the part of a strategic offensive targeting individuals affiliated with organized criminal syndicates and gangs operating across multiple divisions.
01:04And the TTPS said that in the early hours of Saturday morning, while the country observed its first night under the declared state of emergency, legal representatives acting on behalf of a detainee filed an urgent application before the High Court seeking the individual's return to the maximum security prison in Aruka.
01:23The TTPS said the TTPS said the detainee who had been relocated to a secure facility pursuant to heightened national security measures was the subject of a habeas corpus challenge naming both the Commissioner of Police and the Commissioner of Prisons as respondents.
01:39The express newspaper has reported that the application was filed for Raji Ali, who, along with nine other accused, is awaiting trial for the murder of former independent Senator and Senior Counsel Dana Setahal around midnight on May 4, 2014.
01:57The TTPS said following a virtual hearing before Justice Frank Sipasad, the court dismissed the application in its entirety and assessed costs against the applicant.
02:07The express newspaper has reported that Justice Sipasad stated that less than 24 hours into a state of emergency, the rights of one citizen cannot trump the rights of a nation as a whole.
02:21The TTPS said this ruling affirms the legal standing of recent operational decisions taken in the interest of public safety and secure detention.
02:31The TTPS noted that Police Commissioner Alistair Govaro said jail is jail and that one secure facility is just as effective as another, so he is confused as to why they want to pick and choose where they want to be housed whilst they are under the care of the state.
02:49The Police Commissioner then asked if there is something or someone special at the other facility.
02:55One of the legal notices for the state of emergency named the Prison's Order 2025 states that places set out in the schedule appointed as district prisons are premises approved by the Minister Tetron Barracks, Chagaramus, and at Stoubles Bay, Chagaramus.
03:12Both of those locations are defense force bases and are also identified in the detention of persons' directions under the emergency powers regulations for the state of emergency as detention centers.
03:25Those legal notices which have been gazetted are in the name of Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander.
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