Trinidad Express

Reporter Darryl Heeralal and photographer Johann Joseph were picked up at a location in Central Trinidad.Both were blindfolded for the entire journey but, by their calculation, it seemed they were taken south along the Solomon Hochoy Highway until a turn-off before San Fernando.

It was close to one hour before they reached the "lab".

They were allowed to take the blindfold off once inside the room.

After spending close to 40 minutes there, the blindfolds were put on again and only taken off at the drop-off point.

The Muslim group openly support Osama Bin Laden, Al Qaeda and Jamma Islamiyyah, the organisation behind the Bali bombing that killed close to 200 people.

The group wanted it known that they intend to set up an Islamic State in this country.

In a prepared statement given to the Sunday Express and addressed to the US and Britain, a spokesman for the group said: "With our weapons we are going reach you. We will reach you where you sleep, we will reach you where you take your baths, we will reach you where you take your meals and have your drinks, even a glass of water you hold in your hand to drink may not be safe."

It added: "Don’t for one second think you will be victorious. You feel you fight and kill us but you only fight shadows cast by the Qur’an and the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad. Your faith is in your hands—choose how it ends."

The organisation was described as not a "group but a revolutionary ideological movement".

A message was also sent to Prime Minister Patrick Manning that he should provide the "nation with a sense of security and a true sense of moral and ethical standards and truth and sincerity and if you don’t you are doomed to fail."

The group made it clear that they felt that the US, Britain and Israel were "persecuting Muslims worldwide" and their citizens should not come here and enjoy the sunshine.

By Darryl Heeralal, Trinidad Express

A GROUP of local radical Muslims is claiming to be manufacturing chemical and biological weapons for use against US and British interests here—if "provoked".

The group, which has been identified as a terrorist organisation by the FBI, CIA and British SAS, warns that it will attack if the US and Britain go to war with Iraq.

A continuing investigation by the Sunday Express into the intelligence reports by US and British agencies, last week led this newspaper to a secret location where it was shown several substances which were described as "organic and inorganic chemical compounds used to manufacture various weapons".

The newspaper was not allowed to take away samples for testing in order to confirm the claims. Conditions for entering the location required the Sunday Express team to be blind-folded for the duration of the journey. A spokesman for the group said the location was underground. The group had agreed to take the Sunday Express to the location, saying it wanted to demonstrate to Prime Minister Patrick Manning and to the world the seriousness of its intentions.

The room, estimated at about 15 feet by 15 feet, had shelves running along the wall with a work station down the middle of the room. On the shelves were stacked bottles with various liquids—black, brown and blue—and material, including something resembling channa. On the table in the middle were heaps of various powders, pellets, granular material and toffee-coloured wax-like substances.

A man in the "lab", wearing surgical gloves and a gas mask, described the substances as chemical compounds including potash and borax, heavy metal pellets and sulphate of heavy metal pellets, carnauba wax, amatol and tetryl, talc, non-ionic reddening, activated sand and a carbohydrate compound used in the petro-chemical industry.

The man said he was qualified as a chemical engineer and trained in the United States in explosives.

He explained that the potash, borax, carnauba wax, and the carbohydrate compound could be individually combined with other chemicals to make explosives.

He said the heavy metal pellets, described by him as cobalt, were combined with chemicals to make various types of fatal toxins.

Identifying some substances as non-ionic reddening and activated sand, he said they could be used in water treatment and combined with toxins to poison a water supply.

The "talc", he added, could be combined with chemicals to use as a serious skin irritant.

He also pointed to gasoline which he noted could be combined with cellulose to make a form of napalm, while mustard oil extract is mixed with CFCs to make a form of nerve gas.

The group says it has hundreds of 55 kilogramme barrels of chemicals already stored.

The "chemist" explained that the talc, the carbohydrate compound, the heavy metal pellets and carnauba wax are all base materials which, when combined with chemicals, make them deadly.

He said the chemicals were tested on rabbits to determine their potency, while samples of explosives were detonated in tests deep into the "bush".

The group claims that it has been manufacturing and storing chemical and biological weapons for the past two years.

It says it hopes it will not have to use its arsenal of "weapons" but the "credibility and proof that we are serious and have what we say we have is when we use it on the population and we can arrange this at anytime".

The Sunday Express was told that there were several other labs in operation and that the various "weapons" were manufactured in stages and stored under controlled conditions.

It was explained that, individually, the chemicals were legal, but "combined in the correct way become deadly".

"Once you know your way around the chemical industry it is easy to source these chemicals. In fact, nearly all of what we use can be found in domestic or industrial use. The key to the operation is connectivity," said the "chemist".

The substances were said to be sourced both locally and from abroad- either through import agents or directly.

He said there was no problem entering the country with the substances since the Customs and Excise Division has no way of checking the imported material and that in any case, certain "chemicals" were imported under code names from suppliers in the US.

"There are ways to move around Customs," said the man in the gas mask.

An official from the Customs and Excise Long Room confirmed that the agency has no special method for checking chemicals, many of which were imported without a licence and required no import duty.

The official said in some cases, chemicals were passed on to the Pesticide and Toxic Chemical Division of the Ministry of Health but that because of the present structure within Customs and Excise, most chemicals were stamped "Exempt" and allowed through.

The official said under the law, Customs has no way of testing every single substance entering the country to ensure that it is what the invoice says.

"Anybody can import anything to use for any purpose and the Customs is helpless. And we don’t pay much attention to many chemicals because there are no duties attached."

A source from the Pesticide and Toxic Chemical Division said while there were measures in place to regulate the importation of chemicals, the system does not often work and once Customs approves the chemicals they are released.