NATIONAL SECURITY CRISIS

THE SCOPE of the investigation into allegations that corrupt police officers and soldiers facilitated the return of $22 million seized during a recent operation has triggered national security concerns at the highest levels in the country. It also grounded the police commissioner from going on vacation leave.

As police move deeper into the probe, new information points to high-ranking police, soldiers and criminal gangs all seeking to cover up and stall what investigators believe to be a massive money-laundering operation to wash proceeds of crime under the guise of a legitimate sou-sou.

The ramifications suggest that no one can be trusted in the absence of the police commissioner to lead the investigation into the Drug Sou Sou (DSS) probe. In the coming days several police officers who have been identified as being involved in the alleged criminal scheme are to be transferred from the La Horquetta Police Station, the Northern Division and even the Police Administration Building.

Commissioner Gary Griffith was scheduled to go on one month’s vacation on Thursday, bound for Ireland to spend time with his wife, Nicole, and son Gary Griffith III, who has football trials there. He said he had to cancel all the travel arrangements and disappoint his family to deal with this national security crisis.

Acting Deputy Commissioner Mc Donald Jacob, who returns to work on Friday, was expected to act as CoP. Griffith said his decision to cancel his leave came after discussions with the Minister of National Security and the Police Service Commission.

YOUNG CONCERNED

National Security Minister Stuart Young, in a WhatsApp response to Newsday seeking comment, said : “The issues surrounding the DSS scheme are of serious concern to me as Minister of National Security. I am keeping abreast of the investigative developments.

“It is premature for me to make any comment at this time on the depth of the possible corruption but that possibility, or reality, is of major concern to me. I have been in constant contact with the Commissioner of Police and the Chief of Defence Staff with respect to this matter.”

Questions sent to the chair of the National Security Council, the Prime Minister, via WhatsApp did not yield any response. The Chief of Defence Staff, Air Commodore Darryl Daniel, has only issued a short statement since news broke of soldiers allegedly removing evidence during the September 22 raid at Majorie Padmore Avenue, saying he was co-operating with the police investigation.

Four soldiers who were part of the raid in La Horquetta were detained for questioning on Wednesday but police are unable to determine where the $22 million was moved to. Dr Rowley said on Saturday that he would comment on the matter after being briefed at a meeting of the National Security Council on Monday.

At Thursday’s media briefing Griffith said, “We have intelligence that there was a deliberate plan as well that in my absence persons will try to make use of this period to try and undermine the TTPS. “I am fighting a battle here with many trojan horses in my own camp, and that is a fact.”

The commissioner pleaded with the public not to discredit the entire police service over the actions of a few. “Now is not the time to throw the whole police service under the bus and to try to discard and discredit the entire police service,” he said.

Of the 8,000-plus officers under his command, Griffith said if there were 100 involved in the criminal wrongdoing, then all should not be painted with the same brush of corruption.

PANDORA’S BOX

“Let us not discredit the police service because of this situation. I ask the country to see the glass half-full,” he said, suggesting that the opportunity now arises to get rid of the rogue elements.

Griffith said said it was impossible for police to have counted $22 million and checked it against receipts in one hour and return the money without his knowledge after the raid.

Police have verified telephone recordings between officers of the La Horquetta Police Station and a senior officer at Police Administration Building who ordered the return of the cash. “There must be some degree of incompetence or criminal activity,” Griffith said, admitting that he only became aware that the money had been returned some three hours after it was collected by the sou-sou operators.

He said even though people are “whispering” to him to leave the sou-sou investigation alone, he could not. “I will not bury it. (My) exposing it has obviously affected the image of the police service, and that is what transparency is about,” he said.

Griffith said the investigation had opened “a Pandora’s box” and “if by chance this investigation can be won that we can drill so hard to extract all of the major criminal elements in the police service and the defence force, I see the glass half full.

“I see this as being an opportunity to clean out the police service much more than I have been doing,” he said.

In the past the commissioner has admitted to a cabal in the police service seeking to undermine his efforts to weed out criminal elements from within and he has hired a number of specialists and soldiers to protect him. SORT is one of the units he formed, answerable to him, to help deal with criminals both inside and outside of the police service.

The commissioner said he was also aware that people are being paid to discredit him and the police service on social media, as part of a greater criminal scheme to get him out of office.

“I don’t see this as one of the darkest days of the police service, I see it as one of the brightest days, because the police officers have made (sic) 100 (fewer) murders this year than last year. I see positives in it. Obviously it is nothing to be proud about by what we have seen with police officers,” he said.

‘MOVES TO MISLEAD ME’

Griffith noted that while he had intelligence of police officers involved in drug trafficking and protecting drug blocks, he did not have enough evidence to charge, suspend them or fire them.

On the issue of the sou-sou raid, Griffith said there had been several instances where he was blocked and purposely misled, but he vowed to do all he can to bring those to justice, “in or out of uniform.”

Asked how many officers from the La Horquetta Police Station and other units believed to be compromised had been transferred since the incident on September 22, acting DCP Jayson Forde, who retired on Wednesday after 40 years, said the process of removing them had begun and the CoP will liaise with the CDS on the allegations against the soldiers allegedly linked to the scheme.

ACP Anthony James is expected to replace Forde as the next acting DCP in charge of operations. Police intelligence reports identified a number of high-ranking police, soldiers, the lieutenants of criminal gangs and even a bank in an elaborate criminal enterprise to launder proceeds of crime by commingling the illegitimate funds with legitimate deposits from poor, vulnerable people by offering unbelievable returns in a short period.

To combat what seems to be a deeply embedded criminal network in the police service, Griffith said he was exploring the legal possibility of having police officers retained on five-year contracts and undergoing routine polygraph and drug testing. He said while this will likely meet objection from the police association it was one way of getting rid of “bad eggs.”

He said he also intends to introduce this in the next batch of recruits, which he intends to double to 200 and then 300, so in the next five years there would be 3,000 new officers where there are checks and balances to measure their performance,e and “if there are rogue elements, we can weed them out.”