Flashback: Peter Taylor, the man who called highway robbery "routine"

In April 2008 Peter Taylor, a senior cabinet minister in the Manning administration, accused supermarket owners of gouging the population.

And he advised citizens to boycott supermarkets. One of them called the minister's statement irresponsible and wondered if Taylor was trying to incite kidnappers to go after grocery owners.

Read the story: TT minister blames grocers for high food prices, calls for supermarket boycott

The next day thugs and thieves attacked a grocery delivery vehicle and savagely beat the driver before relieving the truck of most of its cargo. While police were trying to deal with that case bandits were looting another vehicle.

All this was happening in broad daylight in full view of people driving along the Beetham stretch just outside Port of Spain.

When reporters from the Trinidad Express asked Taylor about it he said he "would not read anything" into the incident, calling it “an isolated incident." 

Then he added this gem: "I am sure that you have experienced, on many occasions, that in times of heavy traffic, persons would routinely get looted on that Beetham Stretch."

"Yes, of course it has happened before...Persons have had their jewelry snatched…So I would not attribute that to any trend."

In other words, business as usual. Taylor advised the nation not to panic.

Read the full story: Looting, assualt and robbery a routine affair in TT