Jamaat-al-Muslimeen leader Yasin Abu Bakr and eight members of his organisation were detained by police yesterday as part of the ongoing investigation into the murder of former Independent Senator Dana Seetahal, SC.
The group was arrested by police during consecutive raids on their homes in St James, Cocorite and Arima throughout yesterday and remained detained separately at various police stations in north Trinidad last night.
The well co-ordinated police exercise comes a little over a year after Seetahal was brutally assassinated behind the wheel of her SUV, while driving through Woodbrook on May 4, last year. It also came seven days ahead of the anniversary of the July 27, 1990 attempted coup staged by Abu Bakr and his men.
The T&T Guardian was reliably informed that while none of the detainees were formally interviewed up to late yesterday, several were told they were being held for questioning in relation to Seetahal's case as they were implicated in wire-tapped telephone recordings and by forensic evidence gathered by Homicide detectives during the course of their investigation.
According to reports, around 5 am a large contingent of police from several specialised units of the T&T Police Service conducted a search warrant at the Long Circular, St James, home of one of Abu Bakr's wives.
Although, the warrant provided for a search for guns and ammunition, no illegal items were reportedly found. Over the next few hours, the same team of officers went to the homes of the other Jamaat members and conducted similar searches and arrests.
The T&T Guardian understands that the detainees include the father, brother and wife of reputed gang leader Rajaee Ali and a couple who attends Ali's mosque in Carapo, Arima, the east Trinidad outpost of the Abu Bakr's organisation. Ali is currently in remand after he was charged with conspiring to murder a radio announcer in December last year.
A police source said Abu Bakr was due to be interrogated yesterday afternoon but the interview had to be postponed to today as the homicide detective assigned the task had to attend a funeral yesterday.
Abu Bakr, also known as Lennox Phillip, spent the entire day in an interview room at the Central Police Station at St Vincent Street, Port-of-Spain, as dozens of his supporters and relatives gathered outside in a show of moral support.
The supporters camped outside the National Library for several hours as they repeatedly chanted Allahu Akbar (God is the Greatest) until Abu Bakr was allowed brief visits by some of his wives and children.
Abu Bakr and the other detainees were also visited by their lawyers Wayne Sturge and Criston J Williams during the course of the day.
Speaking with reporters after seeing his father yesterday, Fuad Abu Bakr said he had received his medication and food and was in high spirits but said his father was again being persecuted.
"He is aware of what is transpiring. He feels as though this will pass over and he is confident as well that goodness and righteousness will prevail," Fuad said.
Dana Seetahal was shot dead while returning home from a night at the Ma Pau casino in Woodbrook on May 4 last year.
She was ambushed by gunmen who riddled her SUV with bullets as she drove along Hamilton Holder Street to get to her apartment at One Woodbrook Place.
Easy scapegoat
Describing his father's arrest as "ridiculous," Fuad Abu Bakr repeatedly professed his father's innocence as he questioned various conflicting reports on Seetahal's case over the past few months.
"We have heard all kinds of nonsense and now all of a sudden the most popular scapegoat in T&T has been detained for questioning.
"All sorts of persons who have been implicated in other conspiracies have not been arrested or questioned, but 74-year-old Yasin Abu Bakr, who has tried his utmost to stay out of the limelight of politics for so long, is now sitting in a prison cell," Fuad said.
"This is frustrating to my family. My little brother, 12 years old, was at home when they kicked down the door and ransacked the house looking for arms and ammunition.
"He was at home with his wife and child. Why don't they leave him alone? Let him live out his life." he added.
In a press release, Fuad said it was beyond outrageous that the Imam had been arrested on "dubious grounds" on the third day of Eid celebrations, a holy time when Muslims spread peace, share with others and give thanks for completing another period of fasting for the month of Ramadan.
"It certainly is no coincidence that the Imam has also been arrested in the lead-up to the September 7 general election. Is it that the People's Partnership Government is attempting to score political points before voting day?
"This is the same party which has failed to solve Dana Seetahal's murder and has failed miserably in its attempts, or lack thereof, to deal with crime in T&T," Fuad said.
He questioned whether the Government wanted another state of emergency in order to delay the general election, an allegation first voiced by suspended police officer and vice-president of the Police Social and Welfare Association Michael Seales, who was suspended shortly after making the statement.
Fuad also called on the entire Muslim community to stand in solidarity with his father and the others as he suggested that they were being targeted by police based on their religion.
"We are tired as a people of the police being used to oppress and victimise us. We are sick and tired. It has to stop," he said.
Fuad also criticised police for withholding information related to its members' arrests.
"They are arresting people and not telling their families where they are going to. It's like kidnapping," he said.
His views were supported by longstanding Jamaat member Lorris Ballack, who claimed the arrests were another incident of police harassment which began after the Jamaat's involvement in the 1990 attempted coup.
"We have not stopped paying for the actions of 1990. Even though we had an amnesty, we are still paying. I feel we will have to keep paying for the rest of our living life," Ballack said.
Social media websites were rife with speculation yesterday as news of the operation spread, with many users suggesting it may be related to a plot for another armed insurrection.
These rumours were dispelled by the Ministry of National Security in a press release.
In a radio interview yesterday, acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams refused to comment on the latest development in the case but said he was optimistic the investigation would be completed soon.
"This is not a case involving eyewitnesses, it is heavily based on matters of technology. It is one that will bring out an entirely new look in terms of the TTPS' capacity and ability to investigate crimes," Williams said.
–With reporting by Kalifa Clyne