MARKED FOR DEATH

AN 11-PAGE document detailing personal information of 45 members of the Rasta City gang was circulated widely on social media yesterday.

According to police, this could have been done to alert members of the Central-based Unruly ISIS gang as to the identity of Rasta City members marked for death as revenge for the recent murders of several ISIS affiliates.

Senior police sources confirmed that the 11-page document, a copy of which was sent to Newsday, details the photo, name, alias, last known address and rank/duty in the organisation, of the 45 Rasta City gang members.

This comes a week after police sources spoke of information they received that ISIS hitmen were in Port of Spain preparing for an assault on the Rasta City gang once the holy month of Ramadan ends and the Eid ul Fitr celebrations are observed this Friday.

In response to this intel, police sources said that patrols and surveillance work have been beefed-up in specific areas of Sealots, Laventille and Morvant. But it is not only the police who are conducting surveillance work.

Police sources said that Rasta City operatives have at gunpoint, evicted people from their homes in Laventille in order to use the houses as lookout points to see who enters and who leaves the community. All of this, police sources said, as the gangsters prep for the arrival of the Unruly ISIS.

Senior police said they remain committed to ending violence in East Port of Spain and Laventille and said they would “live on the hills,” if necessary, to restore order.

Laventille West MP Fitzgerald Hinds, who said while he was aware of the situation in which people have been thrown out of their homes at gunpoint, he did not know the full details. “I am aware that such an incident took place, but I’m not familiar with the specifics.

“In general, I can say it is just wrong for people to be kicked out of the homes they worked hard to build. I can safely say that proposed legislation to deal with such activities is engaging the active consideration of the Cabinet,” Hinds said.

Police sources disclosed that the Rasta City hitlist is connected to a gang leader who is currently behind bars. The list first surfaced on What’s App and then was copied and posted to other social media platforms.

Newsday forwarded the list to a representative of the Ministry of National Security to determine its authenticity. The representative later said the list was forwarded to minister Edmund Dillon but up to press time, Newsday received no official response from the ministry on this list.