Tobago cops get tough for SoE

THE Tobago Division of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service announced an intensifying of police operations under the current state of emergency (SoE), even as the island recorded its first murder for 2025.

Dirk John, ASP of operations in Tobago, said the division has stepped up efforts to suppress criminal activity under its new powers in the state of emergency

“Over the past few days, the men and women of the police, together with the military, have been working to bring a sense of peace and calm to the people of Tobago.

“We have intensified house searches, we have raided numerous drug blocks and conducted road checks throughout the six police districts in Tobago.

“We are going to push those criminals back and we know we need to work hand in hand with the public. Give us the information and we will work with it.”

The island’s first murder victim was a 15-year-old, form four student of Signal Hill Secondary, identified as Beris Joseph, on January 4.

Police said at about 8.40 am officers were on duty in Shirvan Road, when they got word of a body on Mt Hay Road, Patience Hill.

When they arrived, they found Joseph with gunshot wounds to his head and several spent 9mm shells around his body.

His murder was the third under the SoE.

On January 1, Keegan Barbour, 39, from Laventille Road, was gunned down at his home at around 1 am by a group of men who broke down his front door. On seeing them, Barbour tried to escape but was pursued and fatally shot in his yard.

On December 31, the day after the SoE was declared, attorney Randall Hector was shot while leaving an Old Year’s Night service at the Seventh-Day Adventist Church on Stanmore Avenue, Port of Spain.

Reports said he was walking towards his car with his family when two cars, an SUV and a black Nissan B15 pulled alongside and the occupants shot him several times. He was taken to the Port of Spain General Hospital, where he died.

On January 3, in Tobago, police seized a quantity of narcotics during a roving police exercise between 4 pm - 8 pm.

Police said officers of the Inter-Agency Task Force conducted stop-and-search exercises in the Shirvan and Crown Point districts.

They also searched abandoned structures and empty lots. At an empty lot on Hampden Road, Lowlands they found two bags of marijuana. No one was arrested.

On December 30, acting Attorney General Stuart Young and Minister of National Security Fitzgerald Hinds called the SoE amid information of heightened and intense criminal activity that may have resulted in a threat to general public safety.