Gail Alexander
Applications for Firearm Users’ Employee Certificates (FUEC) that do not fall within the area of suspicious transactions are currently being reviewed for processing.
National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds confirmed this in the Senate on Tuesday, as he responded to queries from UNC Senator Wade Mark on what steps are being taken to address challenges faced by trained security officers in obtaining Firearm Users’ Employee Certificates.
Mark noted that companies like the State-owned MTS are among those affected.
Hinds said according to information from the Commissioner of Police, the operations of the Firearms Section of the T&T Police Service (TTPS) were suspended in September 2021 as a result of an audit and criminal investigation being conducted by the Financial Investigation Branch (FIB), Criminal Investigations Department (CID) and Professional Standards Bureau (PSB).
“Notwithstanding this, on completion of some aspects of the inquiries, the Supplemental Section of the unit was reopened for business in February 2022. In this regard, applications for Firearm Users’ Employee Certificates that do not fall within the area of suspicious transactions are currently being reviewed for processing,” Hinds said.
On Mark’s concern that officers’ inability to obtain certificates is impacting negatively on their ability to provide security to clients, Hinds acknowledged that grant/processing of grants of Firearms Users Licenses and all the other permits and licences within the ambit of the Firearms Act do have economic and financial implications.”
He added, “But the audit of which I’ve spoken was absolutely necessary, as a tremendous amount of suspicious financial activity surrounded it and as a consequence, it became necessary to implement the audit and the series of investigations I described. And that was necessary and notwithstanding the inconvenience that such suspension might have caused, the bigger picture of dealing with the possibility of crime and criminality in respect of the firearms regime required and continues to require the attention of law enforcement and is of concern to all of the people of T&T.”
On other queries, acting Senate leader Paula Goopee-Scoon gave a breakdown of the $14.1 million incurred by WASA on the Beetham Gardens sewer pipeline project.
