Police have discovered a plot to use violence to disrupt the May 24 general election in Trinidad and Tobago and have arrested five people.Acting Police Commissioner James Philbert made the disclosure at a news conference Friday.
Philbert said police raided a house in Carenage in the country's northwest Thursday night and found AK-47 rifles and T-shirts marked New National Vision (NNV), which is a fringe party led by Fuad Abu Bakr.
Bakr's father, Imam Yasin Abu Bakr, led the 1990 attempted coup in which Bakr and a gang of armed men seized the state television station and the country's Parliament, holding the prime minister and several MPs hostage for days.
Philbert said a 15-year-old boy is among those arrested. Others include a 25-year-old former member of the T&T Coast Guard. Except for the teenager, all suspects are all in their twenties.
He said police searched a vehicle belonging to one of the arrested men, which was found on the compound, and found 22 green T-shirts with the NNV markings.
Philbert made the announcement shortly after a gang of armed men hijacked and stole the official vehicle of opposition leader.
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Philbert told the media, "We have unearthed credible information which suggests that a certain group has expressed its intention to disrupt election proceedings...police from the Western Division responded to information and conducted searches... arrested five persons where they found an AK-47 assault rifle, together with two magazines containing all together 48 rounds of ammunition."
The commissioner was emphatic that police would not allow any gang or group of persons "to trample on the democratic rights and safety" of citizens.
"We want to reassure the public that the Police Service intends to carry out its mandate to the fullest extent of the law, and no one would be allowed, no one would be allowed to disrupt the elections campaigns (and) the elections proceedings.
"We intend to allow no one and no body and no group, whosoever they are, to stop us from exercising our democratic rights in Trinidad and Tobago," he said.
Philbert also suggested that there might be others planning similar moves. He said police "know who these people are. We know what they intend to do. We intend to use all our resources and services available at our disposal to ensure that the elections are free and fair."
He insisted that police know the alleged plotters. "We know where you are and we would act in the interest of the State to ensure that the peace of the nation is maintained.
"Our officers will act fiercely, fearlessly and fairly within the ambit of the law. We assure the law-abiding citizens of T&T that persons will feel the full brunt of the law if they intend to, and if they show their intentions to disrupt proceedings or disrupt any aspect of peace in Trinidad and Tobago, not only at this time, but before and after the elections as well," he said.
"I want to reiterate that those who believe that they have some kind of moratorium over violence in our country, that we have had enough of that and we are moving swiftly to put it to an end and we are taking all the necessary action to do that," he said.
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