[UPDATED] Another DSS raid

Drug Sou Sou founder Kerron Clarke speaks to a man while other people wait in line to join the money scheme at Shepdherds Inn, Crown Point, Tobago on Saturday. The scheme continues despite an ongoing investigation into the seizure and return of $22 million in a house in La Horquetta, Trinidad in September. The Prime Minister has said the scheme is not a sou-sou. PHOTO BY AYANNA KINSALE
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Drug Sou Sou founder Kerron Clarke speaks to a man while other people wait in line to join the money scheme at Shepdherds Inn, Crown Point, Tobago on Saturday. The scheme continues despite an ongoing investigation into the seizure and return of $22 million in a house in La Horquetta, Trinidad in September. The Prime Minister has said the scheme is not a sou-sou. PHOTO BY AYANNA KINSALE -

MORE than a month after police seized $22 million from a house in La Horquetta from which the Drugs Sou-Sou (DSS) was administered, boxes of receipts and a large quantity of cash – said to be in the millions of dollars – were taken from the same house during a police exercise on Tuesday.

This raid, according to senior police sources, is linked to the one on September 22, after which $22 million seized that day was released hours later in the dead of night, unknown to investigators and/or Police Commissioner Gary Griffith.

The raid on Tuesday involved members of the Professional Standards Bureau (PSB), the Financial Investigations Branch, Police Northern Division and the Guard and Emergency Branch (GEB). Among those co-ordinating the raid were two Barbados police officers who arrived last week and were inducted as Special Reserve Police (SRP) to assist in the DSS investigation.

Police said officers visited the Kathleen Warner Drive house at 10.30 am and executed a search warrant and later seized boxes of receipts, receipt books and other financial documents as well as a large quantity of cash.

Newsday understands that officers of the PSB took custody of the documents while FIB investigators took custody of the cash with the latter being seized under authority given by the Proceeds of Crime Act. DSS administrator Kerron Clarke, a member of the Defence Force, and his attorneys were present during the exercise.

When police used caution tape to cordon off the house in order to keep the public away, La Horquetta residents gathered nearby and used their mobile phones to take photos and video recordings of the operation. Some voiced their dissatisfaction, saying this raid – the second in a little over a month – was nothing but provocation and harassment.

Police left the house at 3.25 pm with a 32-year-old man identified as a senior administrator in the DSS scheme who was taken to FIB head office in Port of Spain to witness and verify the seized cash while it was being counted.

Police said the two senior officers from the Barbados Royal Police Force were not in La Horquetta but were in real time contact with officers at the house during the raid.

In the September 22 raid, police were led by the Special Operations Response Team (SORT) but police sources would not confirm if SORT officers were again involved in the raid on Tuesday. Shortly after the September 22 raid, a CCTV recording was posted on social media showing an officer in tactical gear stuffing envelopes believed to be containing cash into his bulletproof vest.

This man was later identified as a member of the Defence Force who reportedly told police in a statement that the money was his. Investigations into why the $22 million was returned to the DSS administrators later led to four police officers being suspended and 11 others transferred.

It also led to the Prime Minister publicly condemning the DSS as a “cancer” which if not dealt with, “could eat away the soul of the nation.”

He said the DSS is not a sou-sou but a threat to national security.

Dr Rowley also indicated that in his capacity as chairman of the National Security Council, he had sought help from the UK and Barbados police to investigate the DSS scandal.

It is not known if the UK police have heeded the PM’s call for help. Efforts to reach Commissioner Griffith, who is on vacation leave overseas, for a comment on Tuesday proved futile.

This story was originally published with the title "Cops revisit DSS: Receipts to be seized" and has been adjusted to include additional details. See original post below.

Receipts and other documents used to record the sources of cash obtained by administrators from the Drugs Sou-Sou (DSS) scheme were expected to be seized when police from the Professional Standards Bureau (PSB), the Financial Investigations Bureau and the Northern Division returned to La Horquetta on Tuesday morning.

Sources said police went to Kathleen Warner Drive, La Horquetta, at around 10.30 am where they spoke with DSS administrators and executed a search warrant for receipts.

Police said a second seizure of cash was possible but could not confirm whether it would be necessary at this point.

More as this becomes available.

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"[UPDATED] Another DSS raid"

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