UNC: No local government candidate arrested

OPPOSITION United National Congress (UNC) is adamant that none of its local government election candidates have been arrested.

The denial came after reports that a local government election nominee was arrested on Sunday morning for possession of an illegal firearm. Several social media posts named a nominee, along with photos of the individual who was identified as a nominee for a seat in the Tunapuna/Piarco voting district.

Police on Sunday reported that a 39-year-old man was held at a bar in El Dorado at about 2.20 am, allegedly with an illegal firearm. Reports said an off-duty policeman from the La Horquetta CID was at the bar when he saw a man brandishing a gun.

The man was asked to present his firearm user;s licence but could not.

The officer seized the pistol, which was said to be loaded with seven rounds of 9-mm ammunition. Officers of the Northern Division Task Force were called. The suspect was charged with possession of a firearm and possession of ammunition and is expected to appear before a Tunapuna magistrate on Tuesday.

In a swift response, UNC public relations officer Kirk Meighoo said in in a one-line statement that none of its local government candidates had been arrested.

“The UNC affirms that no UNC local government election candidate has been arrested, early this morning or any time. Please disregard all disinformation sources alleging otherwise.”

In a subsequent interview, Meighoo again dismissed the reports as disinformation.

“It’s been going on for a long time. We’ve had to dispel information for quite a while and so this is just one of those instances.”

Meighoo said the person in question was one of many who offered themselves for service but was not successful in the screening process.

He said hundreds of people have flooded the UNC’s offices for screening for the August 14 election.

He said it was ironic that social media was abuzz with claims about a UNC nominee, but nothing was being said about a PNM councillor who was allegedly arrested for getting into an altercation with a relative.

“No one seems to have made an issue about that,” Meighoo said. “This talk of a UNC councillor being arrested is disinformation, but the other one is real.”