A highly-trained military operative and gun expert was up to late yesterday being questioned by local police on suspicion of terrorism and illegal arms dealing, after a raid at his Arima house revealed thousands of rounds of ammunition, highly classified documents and several guns. Police say after surveillance for some time by detectives of the Northern Division, the man's house in Santa Rosa was raided at around 4 pm on Thursday. The 68-year-old man, who was born in Trinidad, is said to have been trained by the British Army and has served on two British Naval vessels, and returned to Trinidad within the last six years.
Police sources said the man, who lived in Canada for several years, was a former Canadian detective with the Niagara Regional Police Force, a certified firearm instructor, a training instructor at a firearm school in Ontario, Canada. The suspect is also said to be highly skilled with firearms also gaining qualifications from American gun manufacturer Smith and Wesson in the repair of guns and reloading of ammunition. Investigators said during the raid that continued into yesterday afternoon, more than 3,000 rounds of assorted ammunition were found hidden in vehicle motor parts, a LNG cooking gas tank with a cut-out bottom and in a false compartment in a wall of the house.
Also a .45 Colt firearm was seized, as well as several top-secret documents from to the Ministry of National Security relating to human and drug trafficking. The officers employed the use of metal detectors and sniffer dogs to discover the illegal items which included a gas mask. The police uniform worn by senior officers of the service was also recovered and police believe that the man used it to gain access to classified information and also to escape police suspicion. Sources said the man, who police were describing as highly dangerous, recently applied locally for a Firearms User's Licence, but say that none was granted by the Police Commissioner. He is also believed to be closely related to a senior police officer now in the service.
Police believe that the illegal ammunition was smuggled into T&T through the car parts by the man who runs a small car import business. Assistant Police Commissioner Eulyna Julius praised the work of the officers who made the breakthrough in the local illegal firearms market. The exercise was headed by acting Inspector Beverly Paul and Cpl Junior Bernard, with officers of the Arima and Valencia CID, including Cpl Edward, PCs Rajkumar, Ragoobar, Kahn, Ragbir, Wallace and Jarville.