- 17 hours ago
For more than three years the Brent Thomas fiasco has played out in the public domain. Questions were raised about whether the police followed procedure to go to Barbados and bring back Thomas a firearms dealer whom they say was wanted in Trinidad on seven firearm related offences in October 2022.
High court judge Devindra Rampersad stayed all criminal charges and said that the warrants were unlawfully obtained by the police.
Thomas spoke with CCN's Senior Multimedia Investigative Journalist Mark Bassant at his Maraval home last week exclusively about how this experience. damaged his reputation, destroyed his life and hinted there was possible political interference in his matter.
High court judge Devindra Rampersad stayed all criminal charges and said that the warrants were unlawfully obtained by the police.
Thomas spoke with CCN's Senior Multimedia Investigative Journalist Mark Bassant at his Maraval home last week exclusively about how this experience. damaged his reputation, destroyed his life and hinted there was possible political interference in his matter.
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00:00For more than three years, the Brent Thomas fiasco has played out in the public domain.
00:05Questions were raised about whether the police followed procedure to go to Barbados and bring Thomas back,
00:10a firearms dealer whom they say was wanted in Trinidad on seven firearm-related offenses in October 2022.
00:18High Court Judge Devendra Rampasad stayed all criminal charges and said that the warrants were unlawfully obtained by the police.
00:25Well, Thomas spoke with CCN senior multimedia investigative journalist Mark Basant at his Marval home last week
00:32exclusively about how this experience damaged his reputation, destroyed his life,
00:38and hinted there was possible political interference in his matter.
00:50I wanted to ask you, looking back at the beginning of the police investigation,
00:54to where we are, where we stand today, what was going through your mind at each stage of this ordeal?
01:01Remember, I've been serving the state for over two decades.
01:06So, a situation like this was never anything that I could entertain in my mind.
01:13So, at the very onset, when the officers came and was very aggressive and doing whatever they said they were
01:23doing,
01:23I was confused.
01:26I was bewildered and I could not understand what was happening.
01:34When the process started taking place and they started to talk about putting me under arrest and so forth,
01:45the emotions were all over the place.
01:49There was sadness.
01:50There was mostly confusion because I'd always done everything according to the law.
01:57At the very end, well, the courts of the land was able to speak the truth to the people,
02:07to who had to hear, and there was a relief.
02:12But to this day, I have been affected by it.
02:17And with all the press that you see, this is why I'm doing the interview with you.
02:23It has really sullied my whole person, you know, what people see and what they may think.
02:32I imagine, too, there was some sense of disbelief about what was happening around you.
02:37Absolute.
02:39Absolute disbelief.
02:40During the little conversation we're going to have, I'm going to show you some documents here
02:45to explain to you why there was absolute disbelief.
02:49Some things should never happen because there's no grounds for it to take place.
02:56But I guess stranger things do happen.
03:00How did you process the emotions involved in this entire ordeal?
03:05You know, anger, frustration, vindication.
03:10Well, I guess there was times when I was very sad about it.
03:16There was times when I was angry about it.
03:20The whole process was me trying to make sense of what was happening.
03:26Really and truly, there was nothing that I ever experienced in my life before
03:32that could prepare me for a situation like this.
03:35It was just mostly confusion and dismay.
03:42Now, the High Court ruled that your removal from Barbados was unlawful.
03:48And what did the judgment mean to you personally and professionally?
03:56Well, personally, I have to say that it's great that the courts of the land would give the ruling
04:04according to the evidence given.
04:09Professionally, I mean, this has been a situation where even though the courts has given the ruling,
04:22my professional life was destroyed.
04:28Professionally, Mr. Thomas, was there ever a moment, Mr. Thomas, that you felt like giving up?
04:35Nearly every day.
04:38Nearly every day.
04:40You are bewildered, you see.
04:42When you serve the state and you dot the i's, you cross the t's,
04:47and you're instructed by the state to do things in a certain manner,
04:51and you follow the protocol,
04:55and then the same state says to you that we're going to do things in an adverse fashion.
05:06During the whole scenario, I mean, how many times you just sit there and you go like,
05:10I should just give up?
05:13But sometimes you just have to dig a little deeper and keep going.
05:19Exactly.
05:20And I mean, this experience for you personally,
05:24how has it taught you to, you know, what has it taught you as a person?
05:29And has it changed your outlook on this whole scenario?
05:33And by extension, how you view life?
05:37Yeah.
05:40Well, I buried myself in my work for over 20 years.
05:44I served the state.
05:45I served the Ministry of National Security.
05:48I served every division, the police, the army, the coast guard,
05:53customs, excise, everybody.
05:57And, you know, when you're so involved with a job,
06:02sometimes you're actually wearing blinkers and you don't know it.
06:05So when people would ask me, you know, like they get stopped in a traffic situation or something,
06:11I would say 100% of the police in Trinidad and Tobago
06:17and by extension the other departments are fantastic.
06:25But there was a little bit of naivety there because I should have known in any group of things that
06:32you may find the odd bad egg.
06:35So I would say that my perspective on the departments has changed from total encompassing of all good to maybe
06:51there's grey areas.
06:52Now, we speak about your involvement with the police service, the coast guard, the fence force.
06:57Are you still involved in the firearms dealing and the security industry?
07:02And if so, how has this impacted your reputation?
07:07I've tried to rebuild the business.
07:10I think it's virtually impossible to go back to where I was.
07:13I was the principal supplier.
07:17And because of how draconian they have published this in the media and the internet, which is a dangerous thing,
07:29I don't think we can ever rebuild the business again.
07:32So I do try to do a little bit of business.
07:35But remember, I lost all my international suppliers.
07:41Remember that I lost my biggest trading partner was the US.
07:45I lost my visa.
07:47So there's no trading with the US again.
07:54And I don't know what would happen in the future if I could ever regain, you know, the business.
08:00Because every time somebody Googles Brent Thomas, even if they see that it was unjust and that we won the
08:10case,
08:12that stigma touch never goes away.
08:14Professionally and personally, how has this impacted your family?
08:20It destroyed my family.
08:24It destroyed my family.
08:26It was something that we could never prepare for.
08:30We never lived a life that would set us in place for criminal proceedings.
08:37We lived a life always teaching.
08:40Remember, I was an Olympic coach.
08:42I was the Olympic coach for Trinidad and Tobago for many years, teaching rifle and pistol.
08:46We won Pan American medals, Commonwealth medals, CSC medals.
08:51I taught as a teacher, as a coach, about doing the right thing.
08:59And I lived that life.
09:03So the impact on my family, there was no way we could understand what was happening.
09:12There was no way we could digest what was happening.
09:15This was a rupture of the bonds that we shared.
09:21But there was definitive support by your family for you.
09:27There were members of the family that supported me.
09:30Separate and apart from that, how has this impacted your, apart from your physical health, your mental health?
09:37Well, it destroyed both.
09:39Prior to this, being in sport all my life, I tried to keep myself as healthy as possible.
09:46My health deteriorated overnight.
09:48I was hospitalized within days.
09:51I couldn't understand how my health could deteriorate so fast.
09:56My pressure went through the roof.
09:57I mean, by the time they got me to the hospital, the doctor told me, he says, Mr. Thomas, I
10:02don't know how you don't have a stroke.
10:09Mentally, I've lived a spiritual life all my life.
10:13So you reach out to God.
10:17You sit, you meditate.
10:19And you understand that life and men are unpredictable.
10:27And you just have to keep waking up every day, trying to think positively, seeing the silver linings, if there
10:36are any, and putting a smile on your face.
10:39And that's where your head space is now.
10:41Yes.
10:44So, we talked about, you know, you talked about generally how the perception of the public, but how do you
10:50believe this saga has shaped the public perception?
10:53And do you feel that your name has been unfairly tarnished?
10:57It's kind of like the previous questions.
11:00We know it's been unfairly tarnished.
11:03The whole history of the last three years tells the whole country.
11:07And you, Mark, who understand this type of environment, that what they did was wrong.
11:15Now, I'm going to show you something today.
11:19I'm going to show you something today.
11:22They came and said to me that they were going to charge me with the weapons, and they used a
11:31word called grenades.
11:33This was a very carefully selected language to destroy and disrupt.
11:42Why?
11:43We may never know.
11:45Because remember, everything I did, I did for the state.
11:52You see this document here?
11:55This document here is signed by McDonnell Jacob.
12:01This document is for an assault rifle, which we were testing for the Defense Force.
12:06It says that I can import, keep, carry, and test.
12:11The items that they got by me is the exact same items.
12:21These documents are produced and supplied by the TTPS.
12:27So if you give me the items, if you give me the authority, how do you charge me for it?
12:35The grenade part was silly.
12:39This was the permit for the thing they called grenades.
12:42For years, we handled things called crowd control items.
12:46Tear gas, smoke, and so forth.
12:48We sold it to the prisons, the Defense Force, the police.
12:51When there was riots or uprisings, they would use the tear gas and so forth.
12:55They gave me the permit for it.
12:58We sold it for decades.
13:00So when the police came to your place, what was the thinking?
13:05Because we had a prior conversation.
13:08Could you just describe what actually happened?
13:10They started asking the question about the items and so forth.
13:14And the first thing I did was take out what was key.
13:18The legitimate legal documents supplied by the state.
13:23Which is what you hold in your hand.
13:24Yes.
13:26And there was, were, I don't care.
13:32I don't care.
13:35Put me in handcuffs, drag me into their cars.
13:39Put me in prison cells.
13:45But whoever was behind this, there's something behind this.
13:49I don't know who, if it's from the upper echelons of governance or within the service.
14:00But they went on to talk about Brent Thomas evading and fleeing.
14:08This is a document furnished by my lawyers to the TTPS, saying Mr. Thomas is unwell and going to Miami
14:19to seek medical attention.
14:23They knew I was leaving.
14:25They knew where I was going.
14:27They saw the doctor's certificates.
14:30I had a return ticket.
14:33Mark, I live here.
14:34This is where my home is.
14:35This is where I played cricket and football.
14:37This is where I was born and this is where I grew.
14:40This is where my business is.
14:43I don't know how criminals flee.
14:47But I don't think they flee to Miami.
14:50And they don't flee by saying I'm leaving.
14:55They don't flee by a return ticket.
15:00But they wanted to use another, you know, such a destructive factor to attach to this whole assembly of ugliness.
15:13And I don't know why whoever has done this has done this.
15:18It could be competition, could be governments, could be police officers.
15:24I don't know.
15:32Part two of this story is tomorrow.
15:35You're watching the TV6 News.
15:36We'll be back after this break.
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