Seven police officers arrested over missing guns and ammo at Port-of-Spain station
Seven officers on duty the night three Glock pistols and 45 rounds vanished from Central Police Station have been arrested. No charges filed yet, guardian.co.tt reports.
Seven officers held in Central Police Station arms theft probe
Seven police officers have been arrested in connection with the disappearance of three firearms and a quantity of ammunition from the Central Police Station on St Vincent Street, Port-of-Spain, guardian.co.tt reports.
Senior police officials confirmed the development, stating that the officers — of varying ranks — were all on shift the night the weapons went missing. They were still being questioned late yesterday, with no charges laid as of that time.
The missing items comprise three Glock pistols, three magazines and 45 rounds of 9mm ammunition. Municipal police officers attached to the Port-of-Spain Division had lodged the weapons at the Central Police Station for safekeeping at around 2.47 pm on August 10. A routine firearms check at approximately 3.40 am the following morning revealed the arms and ammunition were gone.
An investigation was launched immediately. Early indications pointed to a possible "administrative error" as the cause. At a T&T Police Service media briefing on Wednesday, however, corporate communications manager Joanne Archie declined to elaborate, urging the public not to speculate while the investigation continued.
"I do not have any update on that information and it may very well turn out to be administrative. However, I will let the investigative process take its course, and we will update the public as it progresses," Archie said.
She added that investigators would be examining precisely when the firearms were brought to the station and who took possession of them after they were handed over.
Second arms incident in four months
The Port-of-Spain theft occurred almost four months after the armoury at the San Fernando Municipal Police Station was found completely emptied of arms and ammunition. That empty vault was discovered on April 19, at the same time the body of Corporal Anuska Eversley was found at the station on King's Wharf, Lady Hailes Avenue.
An autopsy established that the 42-year-old mother of three had been beaten and strangled. Municipal police constable Jivan "Bigs" Cooper, a colleague of Eversley's, along with construction worker Kwame Arnold, 20, and scrap iron dealer Nicholas "Nico" Ramdass, 24, both of Claxton Bay, have since been charged with her murder and a series of firearms trafficking offences linked to the stolen weapons.
A TTPS audit to determine the full extent of the San Fernando theft remains ongoing. Four of the municipal police officers suspended following that incident have returned to duty, though a superintendent who was also suspended remains so. Municipal Assistant Commissioner of Police Surendra Sagramsingh, placed on administrative leave when that probe began, likewise remains on leave.
In the wake of the San Fernando incident, municipal police officers were directed to lodge their firearms at police stations, with stricter accountability measures introduced by the T&T Municipal Police Service. The latest theft at the Central Police Station occurred under precisely those new arrangements.
Source: Google News TT — Port of Spain