PCA opens probe in Brent Thomas' case; Caricom plane used in 'abduction'

THE Police Complaints Authority (PCA) has opened an investigation into startling findings made by a High Court judge about a TT citizen being "abducted" from Barbados by police to face criminal charges.

In a WhatsApp response on Saturday, Police Complaints Authority (PCA) director David West said, "Upon receipt and perusal of the judgment, the PCA initiated an immediate investigation."

"This complaint increases the number of enquiries into similar conduct by the TTPS (TT Police Service). The PCA’s other FUL (firearms user licence) investigations and complaints by firearm dealers are close to completion," he said.

On April 25, Justice Devindra Rampersad made scathing findings against police officers in his judgment where he stayed criminal charges against firearms dealer Brent Thomas.

Thomas was first arrested on September 29, 2022, and later released. He was re-arrested in Barbados, from where he intended to travel to Miami to meet his cardiologist, and said he was forcibly returned to Trinidad on a TT Defence Force (TTDF) plane. He was later charged with possession of a series of weapons, including grenades and rifles.

The matter was raised on Friday by Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal during the debate on an opposition motion of no confidence against National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds.

Moonilal said, "It is shocking what this judgment tells us. Mr Justice Rampersad made certain observations about the conduct of the police in this matter."

Moonilal said the judgment indicated that "the police participated in a process of the illegal abduction of a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago, in violation of his constitutional rights."

The police, he claimed, "went to Barbados and abducted him illegally and brought him back to TT."

He said, "From the judgment, it is said that the Defence Force assisted the TT Police Service to fly to Barbados and to illegally abduct a citizen of TT and bring him back to TT, to face charges and so forth."

Moonilal called on Hinds to indicate whether he approved the TTDF's participation in this matter.

"Did you approve? No Defence Force aircraft can leave this country without the knowledge and/or authority and permission of a minister of national security."

Moonilal said, "You cannot land on foreign soil without some kind of diplomatic interchange...exchange to ensure that the Defence Force has authority to go in that country and participate in what effectively is a police operation."

He reiterated that Hinds must indicate his role "in the illegal abduction of a citizen of this country.

But in response, Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister Stuart Young disclosed for the first time that the plane which brought Thomas back to Piarco was assigned to the Regional Security Services, based in Barbados.

Young said, "The fact is that did not happen and it was an RSS plane – the Regional Security Services (RSS) out of Barbados."

"I say no more because the court will deal with that at the appropriate level."

Young objected to anyone trying to tarnish the image of the police and the TTDF.

The RSS was established in 1982 for Caricom to have a collective response to security threats facing the region.

The Caricom member states forming the RSS are Barbados, Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, St Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia and St Vincent & the Grenadines.

The RSS has an air wing with two C26A aircraft which are used primarily for counter-drug operations.

In a statement, National Transformation Alliance (NTA) political leader Gary Griffith said, "Given what was revealed by the ruling, the NTA is issuing a call for the immediate suspension of the police officers directly involved."

Griffith, a former police commissioner and former national security minister, called for officers' unit to be disbanded, and "for them to be investigated by the relevant investigative bodies, to ascertain if they were acting under orders from high and or if they were unduly pressured or influenced into committing these illegal acts against a civilian."

Griffith wondered if the Prime Minister, Foreign and Caricom Affairs Minister Dr Amery Browne and Hinds would be speaking with the Barbados government to "explain this potentially explosive diplomatic blunder with our Caricom regional brother."

He did not see this as a matter about a firearms dealer.

"This is about the preservation of our democracy against those with dictatorial intentions, who are willing to violate the enshrined constitutional rights of any and every citizen."

The court's ruling

In Thomas' constitutional motion, he challenged his detention and the procurement of search warrants for his home and his dealership.

Rampersad granted the numerous declarations Thomas had asked for and also ordered that his ruling be sent to the Justice of the Peace Association and the Commissioner of Police on what information is required, on oath, for the procurement of search warrants by officers.

In his 97-page judgment, Rampersad held that from the evidence, he was satisfied that the warrants were “unlawfully obtained.”

In his claim, Thomas had argued that for every weapon that he was charged with, he had permits issued and signed by the commissioner.

He also contended that for two decades, his company has supplied guns, ammunition and other services to the State, including the police, Defence Force and prison, therefore his possession of certain weapons was not a secret to the police.

Rampersad pointed out that these permits were never revoked. He also voided the various warrants obtained by Sgt Matthew Haywood and ASP Birch. He said Birch’s admission that he did not speak to anyone who granted the permits was a “shocking admission.”

He also said not only were the warrants in breach of Thomas’s rights, but the “entire series of events that unfolded from ASP Birch’s intervention was oppressive harassment.”

He also pointed out that, “for a significant amount of time, ASP Birch and the TTPS were in control of the second claimant’s premises and yet search warrants were being issued with increasing breadth as the days passed."

Rampersad criticised the police for what he described as Thomas' "abduction in Barbados."

He said this involved what was described by Thomas as the use of a non-commercial aeroplane owned by the TTDF.

“Words cannot express the abhorrence that the court feels towards this unlawful act in a supposedly civilised society governed by a Constitution in which the freedoms of the citizens are supposed to be protected.”