National Security Minister, Fitzgerald Hinds has revealed that almost half of this country’s murders this year were gang-related killings.
Speaking at a People’s National Movement (PNM) meeting in Malabar on Thursday night, Minister Hinds lamented that so far in 2023, 242 people lost their lives to crime.
In disaggregating the statistics, Minister Hinds said according to information from the Police Service, 114 of those murders have been gang-related.
Twenty, he said, were due to altercations, six were attributed to domestic violence, 21 for revenge killings, 21 during robberies, 31 were drug-related killings, and 29 were still without a motive.
Minister Hinds said killings due to altercations are often done for frivolous reasons.
“I know a fella who got shot in my constituency for $250.”
Minister Hinds told the audience in Malabar that another constituent was worried about losing his life over $300 owed to another man. The Minister said he intervened personally to repay the man.
The Minister said border security and firearm retrieval are major elements of the government’s crime plan and the TTPS has been mandated to seize as many guns as possible.
He said so far for the year, 280 firearms have been recovered, many of them military grade.
He told the group of PNM supporters that change does not come suddenly.
However, he said he is heartened that the Minister of Youth Development and National Service will be reopening several youth camps and youth-based initiatives.