Further bail amendments for gun possession

ACTING National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds said Government will be bringing to Parliament, further amendments to the Bail Act which would restrict bail for people held with illegal guns.

He was speaking on Thursday at the post-Cabinet media briefing held at the Diplomatic Centre, Port of Spain. Hinds said Cabinet approved the proposals of the Office of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs.

He recalled, recently the police – after tremendous intelligence gathering and hard work, found nine AR-15 automatic assault rifles in Belmont and the offenders were arrested, charged and appeared before a magistrate.

"The police have expressed great shock and horror, and a level of demoralisation, at the fact that no sooner that these perpetrators appeared, they were granted bail, I think in the sum of $500,000. The police complained to the Government that this has a very demoralising effect on the police service, and it was hoped that these perpetrators would have been restricted a lot more than what actually transpired."

Police Commissioner Gary Griffith had called on Government to review the legislation.

Hinds said: "We are doing (the amendments) in response to that recent development...where people were found with not one, not an ordinary firearm, handgun, single burst, but an array – nine of them, automatic weapons. And the society, through its parliamentarians, feel that such persons ought to be dealt with far more stringently."

He said the proposed amendments include that where people are charged for the first time with having automatic weapons, hand grenades, missiles and weapons for spraying noxious substances, they should be denied bail for 120 days where the trial process has not begun.

"If you are caught with more than one firearm you are deemed to have them for the purpose of trafficking, much like a person who was caught with one kilogramme of cocaine or over a thousand grammes of marijuana."

He said if people are charged with trafficking in firearms for the first time, then bail should be restricted.