Even as he stood at the Cedros Security Complex where dozens of Venezuelans waited for the ferry to return home with bags of groceries, National Security Minister Stuart Young says it is unknown how many of them are here.
Young said that until registration of Venezuelan migrants was done, no one can be certain about the number of those who made the journey across the Serpent’s Mouth.
“No one can tell you with any level of certainty, how many legal or illegal Venezuelans are here so the first thing we need to do is have the registration exercise. So whether you are here legally or illegally, you come and you register and that will provide us with the numbers,” Young said.
The southwestern peninsula has the prime ports for the smuggling of guns and drugs and with the ongoing Venezuelan social unrest, there has been an increase in the illegal trade. Police have reported that some Venezuelans barter drugs and weapons for food or cash to purchase groceries.
Government officials estimate that there are over 40,000 Venezuelans living in T&T after they fled their country. Cabinet is to be presented with information on the proposal to set up the registry this week.
However, Young said that within the past two months, there have been an increase in contraband seizures and the capture of those responsible by the various national security agencies.
“We have implemented additional border security. In fact, when you look out today, you will see one of our Damon vessels off the coastline, so we have been utilising our assets from an intelligence-driven point of view. We have been using intelligence to drive the resources where they need to be and we have been meeting with a lot more success.
“Some of the areas we’ve been focused on have actually been locked down and persons have stopped from coming in those areas. Of course, we expect them to move to different areas along the coastline, but as I say, we’re using technology and intelligence to drive the operations to deal with those problems.”
He did not have statistics to support the claim but claimed the increase in interceptions are meeting the levels of success that he wanted.