Ak­ile Si­mon

Po­lice of­fi­cers yes­ter­day stormed a room of a Sau­di Ara­bi­an diplo­mat at the Hy­att Re­gency in a fu­tile search for arms and am­mu­ni­tion.

The in­ci­dent has trig­gered anger with­in the Mus­lim com­mu­ni­ty whose mem­bers are de­mand­ing an apol­o­gy from Prime Min­is­ter Patrick Man­ning. Diplo­mat Fawaz Ab­dul Ra­haman Al­shabaili ar­rived in Trinidad last Sun­day to is­sue visas to some 207 lo­cal Mus­lims who are ex­pect­ed to trav­el to Sau­di Ara­bia to take part in the Haj pil­grim­age. As a re­sult of the in­ci­dent, Al­shabaili has cut short his vis­it and was ex­pect­ed to leave for his coun­try yes­ter­day af­ter­noon.

Sheikh Mu­naf Mo­hammed, vis­it co-or­di­na­tor, said Al­shabaili was left em­bar­rassed by the in­ci­dent. "He felt hu­mil­i­at­ed and ridiculed and like a laugh­ing stock," Mo­hammed said. He was searched at his ho­tel and he was in­ter­ro­gat­ed for sev­er­al hours by the of­fi­cers." He added the in­ci­dent could have se­ri­ous reper­cus­sions for the diplo­mat­ic re­la­tions be­tween T&T and Sau­di Ara­bia. He said Al­shabaili was sent to T&T by his gov­ern­ment to as­sist T&T Mus­lims to ob­tain visas, as op­posed to hav­ing them trav­el to Cara­cas, Venezuela, to have the process com­plet­ed at the Sau­di Ara­bi­an Em­bassy there.