- NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - Hier 08:09

Trinidad and Tobago-US joint efforts pay off

In April, an illegal shipment of assault-grade weapons was seized at Piarco International Airport, one of the largest seizures at an official local point of entry. On June 23, Shannon Lee Samlalsingh became the fourth person convicted by US courts for the crime after pleading guilty to making false statements to licensed gun dealers. That same day, three foreign suspects were placed in protective custody after being held in connection with a $175 million drug seizure of 1.5 tonnes of cocaine in Portugal, shipped from TT. The investigation took two years. Both efforts are successful joint operations by US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) officers operating in TT and the TTPS Vetted Police Unit announced in November. After the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the national security ministry and the US in November, Denise Foster, special agent in charge of the DEA’s Caribbean Division, noted that the DEA has been working in partnership with the police force in TT for 20 years, and the MOU represented an opportunity to amplify that collaboration, which includes targeted training. That initiative appears to have brought significant dividends. Prior to last week’s announcements, successive governments have been cautious about discussing the relationship with the agency. After a US$100 million cocaine haul was interdicted at the Port of Norfolk in Virginia in February 2014, then-national security minister Gary Griffith would not confirm if locally based DEA agents were involved. The extradition of Shurlan Jason Guppy in September 2023 to face charges of trafficking US$1 million in heroin and cocaine was an early announcement of the joint effort of the TTPS and the DEA. But by April 2024, any pretence of stealth mode had been dropped after former US ambassador Candace Bond lauded co-operation between the TTPS and US federal agents in capturing and extraditing Farzan Mohammed, a former US Marine accused of 128 sex offences in his country. Ms Bond would again celebrate the collaboration in October 2024, when another joint operation resulted in the capture of Anthony Regis-Ash, a TT national wanted for murder in the US, describing the TT-US effort as producing “unprecedented results” and “a shining example of what our two nations can accomplish together.” This is unquestionably good news for crime response in TT, which is fuelled by the lucrative and pervasive drug trade. According to a US Embassy press release after the signing of the MOU, the collaboration targeted the development of greater professionalism and expertise in the Vetted Unit, but the collaboration also more efficiently harnesses the capabilities of US policing and interdiction strengths to the TTPS. These successes set real-world and achievable goals for all officers in the TTPS and a standard that the new police commissioner can call on them to emulate. The post Trinidad and Tobago-US joint efforts pay off appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.