The T&T Police Service (TTPS) has seized several guns from the Strategic Services Agency (SSA).
Guardian Media was told by intelligence sources that the guns are expected to undergo forensic testing to see whether or not they were used in any murders now linked to the agency.
The Sunday Guardian reported that the SSA, whose primary role is intelligence gathering, is now being linked to three murders—the 2019 murders of Bryan Felix and Aleem Khan, whose bodies were found in a forested part of Cumuto on October 13 and CCTV camera contractor Andy Daniel. Daniel was shot and killed, while parked on the northbound lane of the Uriah Butler Highway around midday on November 11, 2023.
On March 2, director Major Roger Best was sent on administrative leave and retired Brigadier General Anthony Phillips-Spencer was appointed acting director.
Days before Best was sent on leave, the Special Branch reportedly requested information from the Homicide Bureau of Investigations about the double murder.
It was Daniel’s murder —who was the husband of Joanne Daniel, the Deputy Director of Intelligence of the SSA—which alerted the TTPS and the Government that there were some occurrences in the organisation, according to intelligence sources.
Phillips-Spencer has been conducting an inquiry into the operations of the SSA, the hiring practices and the vulnerability of the organisation.
Since his inquiry began, he has already suspended five members from cyber defence and cyber operation units including Joanne Daniel.
Intelligence sources said Andy Daniel, who installed cameras for several Government officials, allegedly kept the administrative rights to the systems he set up.
It was his administrative rights to the camera systems—which included some of the country’s top officials, businessmen and gangsters (all named)—reportedly allowed him to remotely tap into them at any given point, which made it a valuable commodity for intelligence and criminal elements, for use and abuse.
The son of Pastor Ian Brown, the self-proclaimed 67-year-old spy of the SSA, was also assigned to that unit.
For months before Daniel’s death, intelligence officials claimed they tried to raise concerns to Government officials they could access. They said they wanted to talk about alleged challenges in the SSA under director Best— the hiring practices which allegedly bypassed a proper vetting mandatory for the organisation, the confluence of church members at the top of the Agency who was being heavily influenced by Pastor Brown, the challenges being faced with Best given his religious proclivities (he is an elder at Brown’s church), and operations taking place which were beyond the remit of the SSA, all funded by taxpayers’ dollars.
The Government has sought international assistance to determine how much and to what extent the State’s national security apparatus was comprised and how to address it effectively.
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley had said Best was sent on leave based on troubling information provided to the National Security Council by the TTPS. The information, he said, warranted drastic intervention.
Amid numerous calls for answers, the Prime Minister asked the public to have a ‘little patience’ as the probe into the SSA progresses.