Moonilal: Government has questions to answer on gun dealer's illegal arrest

OROPOUCHE East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal says the Prime Minister and National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds have questions to answer after the State has formally admitted that the detention and return of firearm dealer Brent Thomas from Barbados in 2022 was unlawful.

The admission was made at a hearing on July 24, of the Attorney General’s appeal of a High Court judge’s ruling that permanently stayed all criminal charges against the 61-year-old owner of Specialist Shooters Training Centre.

In a statement on July 25, Moonilal said, "Now that the State has conceded that it acted illegally in the abduction of Brent Thomas from Barbados, the country deserves urgent and honest answers from the authorities."

He asked what role did the Prime Minister, Hinds and Commissioner of Police (CoP) Erla Harewood-Christopher play in this matter.

Moonilal asked what happened to the police officer who arrested Thomas, were their protocols to be followed, if the Police Service Commission will intervene or if President Christine Kangaloo will publicly speak on the matter.

"This matter is a further disturbing piece of evidence of the authoritarian and tyrannical rule of the failed PNM administration."

He claimed that only lawless and despotic regimes abducted people from another sovereign state.

Moonilal, the UNC's shadow national security minister, repeated his call for the public to be given straightforward answers on this matter.