Kamla calls on PSB officers to come clean in Brent Thomas 'abduction'

Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar is calling on three police officers assigned to the Professional Standards Bureau (PSB) to tell the truth about the “abduction” of firearms dealer Brent Thomas who was arrested in Barbados and retuned to TT last year on a military plane.

During Parliament on Friday, National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds denied giving approval to any of the officers to travel to Barbados to carry out the operation.

Persad-Bissessar expressed disbelief of Hinds’ statement and raised concerns about the integrity of the officers' reports.

She urged the officers to seek legal advice "and let the chips fall where they may.”

On May 17, Police Commissioner Erla Harewood-Christopher told the Joint Select Committee on National Security she would deliver a written report on the actions of police officers in two weeks. This after Hinds said he had received an oral report from the CoP on the matter.

In the Barbadian Parliament earlier this month, AG Dale Marshall said the Transnational Organised Crime Unit, a police unit which operates out of the Ministry of National Security, had requested assistance from Caricom's Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (Impacs) which contacted the Barbadian police and put them in contact with officers from Trinidad.

He said the officers had "fallen short" of the law by acting without an extradition request.

Thomas, 61, of Haleland Park, Maraval and the owner of Specialist Shooters Training Centre, had travelled to Barbados en route to the US where he was going to see is cardiologist. On October 5, 2022, officers of the Royal Barbados Police Force arrested Thomas at his hotel room at the Marriott, in Bridgetown, handcuffed him and confined him in the back of a police jeep. Thomas was taken to the Grantley Adams International Airport where the officers handed him over to TT police.

A Regional Security System plane was used to take the police to Barbados and bring them back to Piarco with Thomas.

On April 25, High Court judge Devindra Rampersad ruled that the police actions were tantamount to the "abduction" of Thomas and stayed criminal charges of possession of grenades and automatic rifles which had been filed.

The state had conceeded Thomas' return was illegal but is appealing the judge's ruling to return the firearms, grenades and the stay of the charges.