- 7 weeks ago
The Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard is now under the microscope as evidence uncovered during a TV6 investigation showed that several pirogues seized during maritime operations be it drug trafficking etcetera have disappeared from one of their bases as well as the Chaguaramas heliport.
Tonight Senior Multimedia Investigative Journalist and Producer Mark Bassant tells us more in this investigation : "Vanished."
Tonight Senior Multimedia Investigative Journalist and Producer Mark Bassant tells us more in this investigation : "Vanished."
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NewsTranscript
00:00Over the last few years, the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard has been the subject of
00:27several alarming tales and public criticism. These issues are centered around a few recurring themes.
00:33Concerns about asset management and operational readiness, allegations of corruption or misconduct
00:38among maritime officials, high-profile operational accidents and searches that went wrong and public
00:45dissatisfaction with how environmental or criminal incidents were handled. The Trinidad and Tobago
00:51Coast Guard has struggled with public confidence because of operational failures, opaque processes
00:57around seized vessels and evidence, allegations of wrongdoing by some officials and difficult,
01:03sometimes tragic outcomes from interdiction operations. This new revelation is no different.
01:10Several sources within the Defense Force and Coast Guard have revealed that seized civilian
01:15vessels from drug interdictions, illegal immigration crackdowns and other maritime operations are
01:22brought to the Coast Guard's Hart's Cut base here, where they are kept until court proceedings are
01:28completed. However, within the last couple of years, a troubling trend has emerged. That is, many of
01:35them have mysteriously disappeared. This has sparked growing concerns over accountability within the
01:42Coast Guard, and questions are being raised as to whether a proper inventory and a tracking system for
01:48these assets has ever existed.
01:51TV6 News, during its two-month-long investigation into this matter, also obtained an internal memorandum that
01:57ordered a Board of Inquiry to be convened last year in October, open quote, to investigate the
02:03circumstances surrounding the disappearance of two pirogues, called Tell Me and Emmanuel, that were
02:09berthed at Hart's Cut base, close quote. The Board comprised of Lieutenant Commander Mohip as the chairperson, and
02:16Lieutenant Cox and Sub-Lieutenant as two other members, while Midshipman Joseph Gainerine, James and Raghu
02:23were appointed scribes. At that Board of Inquiry that began on October 10th, 16 officers who worked at the
02:29Hart's Cut base appeared before the Board as witnesses, which included Lieutenant E. Warner, who was then in charge of the
02:35base, three sublief tenants, four chief petty officers, and eight petty officers. Senior Trinidad and
02:43Tobago Defence Force and Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard officers told TV6 News that after the Board of
02:48Inquiry met and completed their questioning of the officers who worked at Hart's Cut Bay, no disciplinary
02:54action came out of the incident, apart from the majority of officers being transferred out of the base.
02:59Behind the Coast Guard's formal statements of accountability lies a quieter reality. According to a
03:06senior Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force insider, Boards of Inquiries are convened less to uncover
03:12wrongdoing, but rather to, quote, review and tweak policies and procedures, unquote, with any probe of
03:19criminal acts typically left to some time later, often unrealized investigation. The source pointed out that
03:26despite the many BOIs ordered over the years, only a handful have ever advanced to formal criminal
03:32inquiries and charges. Another high-ranking officer was blunter, calling the BOI process at times,
03:38open quote, a convenient cop-out, close quote, meant to assure the public that action is being taken even
03:45when nothing of substance follows. The disappearance of the two seized pirogues, Coast Guard and Defence Force
03:51insiders say, is only the tip of the iceberg. Multiple senior sources revealed that the incident
03:57barely scratches the surface of a far more disturbing pattern. Over the past few years, at least eight to
04:04ten other pirogues have vanished from that same secure location under similarly murky circumstances.
04:10The repeated losses they contend point to systematic failures, or worse, that have yet to be fully
04:16confronted. Senior officers familiar with the operation say the deeper problem is a vacuum of oversight,
04:21there's no rigorous accounting for either seized civilian vessels, pending the outcome of the court matters,
04:28or state vessels birthed at the facility, and no reliable inventory system to track their movements.
04:34That lack of control, the senior source warns, creates the perfect cover for boats to be removed quietly,
04:40sometimes even shipped out of the compound. According to senior Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard and Defence Force sources,
04:45the two missing pirogues are not isolated cases. At least six to ten other vessels are believed to have
04:51quietly vanished from the Coast Guard's hard-scut base in recent years.
04:56The problem extends beyond that compound. Another four civilian boats, each intercepted during drug-running
05:02missions, and human trafficking operations are found adrift in the ocean or stolen and kept at the Shagaramus
05:07heliport, have also disappeared. The vessel involved in a Coast Guard shooting incident a few years ago in which a baby
05:14was shot dead, sources says one of the vessels on the list of missing or disappeared.
05:19Insiders blame the absence of any secure storage facility or reliable inventory system, a gap that allows high-value
05:26evidence to slip away with little chance of detection.
05:30The problem, several insiders stress, is compounded by what happens when court cases tied to seized boats collapse or are
05:36eventually dismissed. In such instances, judges often order the vessels returned to their original owners.
05:43But when those owners stood up at Coast Guard facilities to reclaim the property, they are frequently met with
05:48troubling surprises. In some cases, they are told the vessel was quote-unquote destroyed, while in other cases, they are
05:54handed an entirely different boat altogether. A senior Coast Guard intelligence source told TV6 News that the
06:00disappearance of seized boats sometimes goes far beyond mere mismanagement. According to the officer,
06:06civilian vessels have been repainted and sold off to private buyers while still under Coast Guard
06:11custody. He recalled the one in Conkton in which a civilian casually approached him to ask about
06:16purchasing another pierog, explaining that he had previously bought a seized boat directly from a Coast Guard
06:21officer. Several sources confirmed that the hierarchy of the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard has been made
06:27aware of this illicit practice but has failed to act. Insider stressed that there is only one legitimate avenue for
06:34private citizens to acquire vessels seized by the state, a public auction conducted under official procedures. Any sale carried out
06:42directly by Coast Guard officers, according to a source, falls outside the law and points to complicity at levels higher than many are
06:49willing to admit. Over the last few weeks, TV6 News continuously sent several questions to Captain Steve Don Rigel Polo, the
06:57commanding officer of the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard, who incidentally signed off on the Board of Inquiry convened last October. We asked several
07:06questions about this operation and if he was aware. However, Captain Polo refused to answer our questions despite repeated attempts to get him on record. We also contacted
07:18Minister of Defence Wayne Stage about these pierogues that have gone missing at Hart's Cut Base and the heliport and if he had been
07:26made aware of this. However, Minister Stage did not respond to our questions sent to him over the last week. The question now remains, what if anything
07:35will be done following these damning revelations inside the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard? Mark Bessant, TV6 News.
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