Locals join regional colleagues in firearms course

Fifty-eight police, army, coast guard, prisons and customs and excise officers, and 16 other law enforcement officers from the English-speaking Caribbean, are now participating in a two-week course at Teteron. It was organised by the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force in collaboration with the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development. The course which began on Monday is entitled “Commercial Trade and Illicit Trafficking in Firearms, their Parts and Ammunition: Training the Trainers Investigative Techniques Course. Yesterday, Commanding Officer of the Trinidad and Tobago Regiment, Colonel Edmund Dillon held a press briefing at Teteron to announce the anti- crime initiative.

He said the course dealt specifically with illegal firearms, which continue to be a source of concern both in the region and at home. “It has been stated in several quarters that cocaine for instance, is not produced in the Caribbean, but huge quantities transit our region and on a similar note, arms and ammunition are not manufactured in the Caribbean, but a large number of small arms and light weapons move illegally throughout our waters and across our borders,” said Dillon.

He said there has been established a nexus between the illegal drug trade and the illegal trafficking of arms and ammunition in the region. It is the first time that the course is being conducted in the English-speaking Caribbean. He noted that most of the law enforcement and security personnel within the Defence Forces and Protective Services in the Caribbean are not only grappling with the illegal trafficking of small arms and light weapons, but also an upsurge of firearm related crimes that are committed daily within our various jurisdictions.