If the 16 people detained by the State over an alleged plot to assassinate the Prime Minister and three Cabinet Ministers are released without charge today, it will show that the Government is a clear and existing threat to T&T, says PNM senator Fitzgerald Hinds. "All it will do, in my view, is concretise that the Government is a clear and existing threat to T&T and should be removed promptly...of course by democratic means," Hinds said yesterday. The Opposition senator was responding to questions on the removal of the state of emergency midnight today. When the state of emergency is removed, the 16 detainees who are being held under detention orders may have to be released if no charges have been brought against them.
"Up to now, as we speak, nobody has been charged for anything...It's obvious they (the police) are having difficulty with evidence," Hinds said. "Up to now, the police have not gone to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for advice. "Normally, when a person is arrested and charged, the police go to the DPP for advice. "This means they are having difficulty with evidence as in the case of the 250 people who were arrested recently under the Anti-Gang Act," Hinds recalled. "It (the arrest of the 16) is likely to go nowhere...We'll have to wait and see."
Asked how the release of the 16 without charge would impact on the credibility of the Government, Hinds replied: "I don't think the Government has too much credibility to lose again." Recalling the arrest and release of 250 people under the Anti-Gang Act during the recent state of emergency, he said: "In my opinion, the Government's credibility is already at rock bottom. "From the time the plot was announced, the entire country demonstrated suspicion and doubt over the story." Hinds pointed out that there seemed to be a contradiction in the story that the plot to assassinate the Prime Minister was linked to the drug trade and the arrest of 16 alleged Muslim terrorists for wanting to destabilise the country.
"I don't think they have further down to go on the totem pole of incredibility," he said, listing a number of cases in which the Government allegedly misled the population and told untruths, including the Reshmi Ramnarine affair. Asked about the origin of the mysterious security evaluation report which found the assassination plot against the PM and ministers to be highly speculative, Hinds replied: "It came in Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley's mailbox...He presented the details to the Government and called on the National Security Minister to challenge its validity. "So far, we've heard nothing from them," he added.
Attorney General Anand Ramlogan said the report was not presented to the National Security Council and said it might be fictitious and bogus. Hinds, responding, said: "If such a report did not go to the National Security Council, that should tell you about the state of the country. He added: "Well, today we will know (its validity), if the detainees are released because there was no evidence to charge them."