Chin Lee silent on State of Emergency

TWENTY-FOUR hours ahead of a National Security Council (NSC) meeting to discuss implementing a limited State of Emergency to deal with gang warfare in the Laventille area, National Security Minister Howard Chin Lee was tight-lipped about whether would give the green light to that recommendation.

Speaking with Newsday during a break in the Senate yesterday, Chin Lee said while a limited State of Emergency was one of the recommendations advanced by the Ken Gordon-led Crime Reduction and Prevention Committee, it was just that and he preferred not to comment on the matter at this time. Gordon, who is also chairman of First Citizens Bank, publicly called for a limited State of Emergency in Laventille to deal with crime problem and it was Newsday which first revealed that this was one of the things under study by the NSC when the security forces launched Operation Lockdown in the area. During Lockdown and the subsequent “Operation Baghdad”, Prime Minister Patrick Manning said Government would not hesitate to implement a State of Emergency if the situation warranted it. At the time, Manning said there were no grounds for a limited State of Emergency in Laventille and environs. The Minister said plans to create a special police-army unit to deal with gang warfare were proceeding apace and he had been meeting regularly with Police Commissioner Hilton Guy and Defence Force Chief of Staff Brigadier Ancil Antoine to work out the details. Chin Lee criticised Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday’s claim that the PNM had destroyed all of the Coast Guard’s vessels and aircraft since coming into power.

Chin Lee disclosed that he spoke yesterday with British engineers working on engines for two vessels that were inoperable since the UNC was in office, and they indicated that progress was finally being made after months of red tape from the Panday regime. The Minister also revealed that the TT Cascadura (the Coast Guard’s flagship vessel) which was also neglected by the UNC, will be operational within two months. He also recalled that upon entering office, only two of the Coast Guard’s five aircraft were operational and now all five were operational. Chin Lee said UNC assertions about having a top-notch coastal radar system were false and the one which the PNM met was “primordial” to say the least. “It is probably better there was no system at all,” he stated. While the Minister declined to give specific details of the proposed coastal radar network, he said it would mirror a system currently employed by the Israeli military to monitor arms smuggling activities into and out of the Palestinian-occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. He said he had received correspondence from the United States Embassy on the issue and hinted that further details would be given at last night’s PNM meeting in San Fernando.