Amalgamated: Crew collecting cables for TSTT, not stealing

Amalgamated Security Services Ld has said its officers shown in a video circulating on social media cutting cables were doing so on behalf of TSTT, and not stealing them.

The video shows a man in an Amalgamated uniform standing in the tray of a van using a hacksaw to cut a line. Another man in uniform with a gun paces nearby.

The voiceover suggests, “Amalgamated tiefing cable in broad daylight.”

In a release, the company said while it was clear from the video what its officers were doing, “the accompanying narration seeks to maliciously impugn the character of the officers involved and by extension our company.”

The company said the video in question was taken by someone on Morne Coco Road, Petit Valley,

Amalgamated said on Thursday around 1.15 pm, two employees in a company vehicle were doing TSTT Task Force work on Morne Coco Road.

It said this included cutting and removing cables that are "observed to be prepared by perpetrators to be removed."

When they reached LP 191, it said, the crew saw low-hanging cables, took photos of them and sent the images to the TSTT Command Centre, "who then gave the authorisation to cut the...cables and to return (them) to a secure TSTT location." The crew put the cables in the tray of the van and was then sent to a site in Piccadilly Street, Port of Spain, to do the same with another piece of cable.

The company said this work is done by all the TSTT Task Force mobiles daily and the cutting instruments were provided by TSTT.

It commented, “Regretfully many individuals seek to add their own skewed narrative and malign our company and our hardworking employees who risk life and limb by just doing their job of securing our customer’s assets. We simply seek to record the truth.”

Comments on social media also noted that the men were not wearing safety equipment.

Amalgamated and TSTT could not be reached for further comment up to news time.