Reputed gang members arrested in Belmont raid (updated)

Shane Superville and Jensen La Vende

Police detained 61 suspected gang members during a raid in Belmont on Friday evening.

The arrests came days after violent protests in the Port of Spain and several other areas over the police killing of three men in Morvant. The government and the police said the protests were co-ordinated by criminal gangs.

Police Commissioner Gary Griffith has confirmed information that two of the warring criminal gangs, Rasta City and the Muslim gangs, have called a truce over the police killings and have joined forces to battle the police.

According to police, they received information that senior members of the one of gangs had convened at a house and a bar located at the corner of Regent Street and Belle Eau Road.

Police said members of the Special Investigations Unit's intelligence office received information that key members of the gang based in Sea Lots and East Port of Spain were at the location. A video shared on social media claimed gunshots were heard during the police exercise but one lawyer disputed the claim saying that several lawyers were also present at the meeting.

Officers of Belmont CID and the Port of Spain Task Force with assistance from the Inter Agency Task Force, Special Operations Response Team and the Port of Spain Division responded to the intelligence and detained the suspects.

No information was immediately available on whether the suspects will be charged for any offence, including breaching the Public Health regulations, by gathering in numbers larger than 25 people.

At the scene, three Amalgamated buses were used to haul away the suspects.

According to police, around 5 pm they went to Short’s Bar where they met a group of men inside the bar. The men were arrested along with some people liming outside.

Newsday was told by eye witnesses that police accused the men, some of whom police labelled as gang leaders, of meeting to plot to kill police.

Following the triple killing of Joel Jacobs, Israel Clinton and Noel Diamond on June 27 by police, residents of East Port of Spain protested the killings calling for justice. Police said the protests were organised by gangs and there was a truce between two gangs Rasta City and Muslim, to attack the police. The men were supposedly at the bar to conduct a meeting regarding that plot.

Owner of the bar Nixon Richards said he had no issue with the men being arrested for breaching the covid19 regulations, however, he questioned why police had to damage his roulette machine. He said it will cost him about $50,000 to repair.

Richards also showed where he claimed police ransacked part of his bar and broke down part of a wooden door. One man who was in the bar at the time police arrived said the bar was not only closed but locked as the owner was not around and not open for business while 22 people were inside.

The men, he said, were liming and talking but drinks were not being sold and therefore the covid19 regulations ought not to be applied. The only sale happening he said was outside the bar where fried chicken was on sale and even there had less than 25 people, he claimed.

Breaching the regulations can land a bar owner a $50,000 fine. Up to 8 pm, roughly an hour after the group were hauled off, the bar owner was not arrested.

A statement from the police on Saturday said the suspects were detained by officers of the Inter-Agency Task Force, during an anti-crime raid on Friday,

The official release did not mention the arrest of any gang members but noted the police were alerted to a report of more than 25 people gathered at bar in Belmont which was in breach of the covid19 regulations.