CoP: TT not a hub for terrorism

CITIZENS must not allow TT to be labelled a terrorism hub because of fake news, Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith said on Tuesday during a conference with the San Juan Business Association at the Himalaya Club in San Juan.

Griffith responding to questions on TT’s standing on a terrorist watch list, saying the world was misled into believing this country is a hub for terrorists. “This has something to do with something called Foreign Terrorist Fighters,” Griffith said.

“There are 30,000 Foreign Terrorist Fighters who come from around the world. Trinidad has 47, yet we are a hub for terrorism? The 30,000 Foreign Terrorist Fighters come from over 65 countries. Trinidad is just one of these countries, yet we are deemed a hub for terrorism.

"In the 21st century, over 100 countries have been hit by terrorism. Trinidad and Tobago is not one of those hundred. There have been over 150,000 people killed through terrorism. Not one was killed in Trinidad and Tobago. There have been 10,000 attacks in the world based on terrorism; Trinidad and Tobago is not one, but you have the audacity to call my country a hub for terrorism.”

Griffith told gathering that the idea of TT being a hub arose after a comment was made by someone on an American news network, of which people worldwide took note.

He said to counteract this fake news, he has been speaking with concerned members of the European Union (EU), supplying them with proper facts on terrorism and TT’s standing with Foreign Terrorist Fighters.