Fuad: Using Army not illegal

BARATARIA/SAN JUAN MP Dr Fuad Khan is insisting there is nothing illegal about using the Army to track down kidnappers or the Army using force against the kidnappers if they are attacked. On Tuesday, the United National Congress (UNC) MP said the military should be used to ferret kidnappers out of their hideouts because the police did not possess such skills. However he told Newsday yesterday that there was no law about the Army “searching for kidnappers” and any citizen could conduct such searches if they wished.  The UNC parliamentarian explained that the Army would essentially be making “a citizen’s arrest” in such cases and soldiers would be well within their rights to defend themselves if attacked by kidnappers. However Khan said the Army only had powers of arrest under a State of Emergency and once the kidnappers are located, apprehension and laying of charges should be left in the hands of the police.

According to Section 8 (2) of the Constitution, the President can declare a State of Emergency when a state of war exists between Trinidad and Tobago and a foreign nation, when a public emergency arises (natural disasters) or “action has been taken, or is immediately threatened by any person, of such a nature and on so extensive a scale as to be likely to endanger public safety or to deprive the community or any substantial portion of the community of supplies or services essential to life.” Prime Minister Patrick Manning said Government would not institute a limited State of Emergency in any part of TT as a means of dealing with crime. Head of the recently formed National Crime Committee, Ken Gordon, has publicly called for a limited State of Emergency in certain “hot spots” to curtail criminal activity. Khan said he was optimistic that his request for lists of persons deported to TT over the last two years would be granted within three weeks of Parliament’s resumption on September 29. He claimed that many of these deportees have joined criminal groups which have transformed kidnapping into an “islandwide movement.”