Tag Archives: Crime in T&T

Greed and Stupidity

By Raffique Shah
March 16, 2014

Raffique ShahI suppose I should not have been surprised at the number of people who telephoned the Central Bank, or turned up at its offices, to claim the “winnings” they had been alerted to via the now ubiquitous cellphone text messages.

Still, I could not believe there were so many gullible people in a country that boasts of a 90-plus per cent literacy rate, of universal free secondary education and easily accessible tertiary education. Maybe I am a fool for equating education with common sense, for believing that the average person can easily spot a scam and not fall victim to the boundless wiles of cartels of conmen who trawl the shrunken world of electronic communications searching for and fleecing fools.
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Decoding Crime in T&T

By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
February 12, 2014

Dr. Kwame NantambuOne of the apparently unknown realities of crime in T&T is the fact that neither the current People’s Partnership (PP) government, a People’s National Movement (PNM) government nor an Independent Liberal Party (ILP) government can solve/prevent certain crimes in this
country.

For example, if as occurred quite recently, an aggrieved ex-husband decides to kill his ex-wife, then, there is absolutely nothing any of the afore-mentioned or the Commissioner of Police can do to prevent/stop this familial crime.
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ARREST THOSE MEN

By Andre Bagoo
February 05, 2014 – newsday.co.tt

ARREST THOSE MENTHERE ARE an estimated 2,500 teenage pregnancies per year, including several cases at the primary school level, Minister of Education Dr Tim Gopeesingh said yesterday as he called for the enforcement of laws against statutory rape in order to address what he said was a “huge”, “frightening” and worsening problem.

The minister linked the problem to social conditions, saying half the population now live in single-parent homes.
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De ‘bust’ buss

By Raffique Shah
February 02, 2014

Raffique ShahWithin days of the announcement by US authorities that they had intercepted 700-odd pounds of cocaine shipped from Trinidad to Norfolk, Virginia, and the well-publicised arrival here of a number of Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents, I sensed that something had gone awfully wrong.
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Let us pray

Newsday Editorial
January 29, 2014 – newsday.co.tt

BibleWe fully support the current National Week of Prayer, as a potential tool against crime and other social ills, launched last Sunday by the Inter Religious Organisation (IRO) and Ministry of National Diversity and Social Integration.

We respect this nation’s diversity of beliefs including the right of a citizen to disbelieve, but we think the country at this socially-fragile time has more to gain than to lose through collective religious practices such as this Week of Prayer.
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Mom, 15, shot dead

By Alexander Bruzual
January 23, 2014 – newsday.co.tt

15-year-old Aleah CainA mother of a six-week-old girl. An aspiring interior designer. An avid lover of steelpan.

All these things, and so much more, described 15-year-old Aleah Cain who was brutally gunned down on Tuesday night along Belmont Circular Road, Belmont mere moments after she left her home at Farrell Lane to get something to eat, despite protests from her mother.

“Aleah was sitting with me at home helping me comb my hair, when she suddenly tell me she was hungry, and she wanted food. I tell her we had bread and butter, and small stuff at home, but she said no, she wanted something different, so she going to the shop. I tell her, ‘Aleah, look at the time, it’s after 10!’ But she said she didn’t want the food at home, and she would go out and get something,” Aleah’s mother Lauren recalled yesterday.
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$640M COCAINE IN JUICE TINS

By Nalinee Seelal
January 18 2014 – newsday.co.tt

$640M COCAINE IN JUICE TINSTHE biggest ever drug bust in the history of the Norfolk Port in Virginia, United States was made on December 20 when US Customs Border Protection officers seized 332 kilos of cocaine which originated from Trinidad and Tobago and which carries an estimated street value of US$100M or TT$640M.

The cocaine was stored inside tins of Trinidad Juice Company juices which were part of a consignment of goods that arrived at the Norfolk Port after being shipped from Trinidad. The cocaine, believed to have originated from South America, was hidden inside 700 juice tins bearing the markings of the Cooperative Citrus Growers Association (CCGA) which is located off the Eastern Main Road in Laventille.
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Edge of the abyss

By Raffique Shah
January 12, 2014

Raffique ShahA tragic consequence of spikes in violent crimes such as we experienced in the first week of 2014, is the baying of the hounds, the blood-curdling cries for revenge that are as transient as the surges are cyclical. As soon as the murder rate settles back to what is normal for us, meaning one-a-day, the society will shift into the muted mode. People will hardly note the killing, and the police and government will enjoy a respite from outrage…until the next surge.
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BLOODY HELL

By Alexander Bruzual
January 07, 2014 – newsday.co.tt

BLOODY HELLTWO young men were yesterday gunned down in broad daylight next to Nelson Street Girls’ RC School in Port-of-Spain on the first day of the new school term — bringing to 16 the number of murders committed in the first six days of January. This, according to statistics, is the bloodiest start to a New Year in the past six years.

In the first six days of January 2008, 15 persons were murdered. The murder rate soared to 547 by December 31 of that year — the highest number of murders ever recorded in a calendar year in this country’s history.
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Surrender…and Die

By Raffique Shah
January 05, 2014

Raffique ShahWe have tried every conceivable strategy, many inconceivable ones, and some downright dotish crime plans. And we have failed—miserably so. From Anaconda to Iguana, Baghdad to Budapest (where we lost young footballer Akeem Adams to a heart attack, of all things!), nothing has stopped the march of the criminals.
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