Police/soldiers lock-down East Port-of-Spain

The exercise began shortly after 10 am and saw 150 police and soldiers engaged in door to door searches as well as a search of cars.

While the officers were on the ground, they had aerial support from National Security helicopter Viper One. Officers of the Police Canine Unit accompanied by sniffer dogs entered apartments and houses as searches were carried out for arms and ammunition as well as illicit drugs.

Twenty persons were detained for possession of illegal narcotics while others were held on outstanding warrants for serious crimes such as shootings and robberies in the East Port of Spain and surrounding areas.

Officers were led by Snr Supt Radcliffe Boxhill and ASP Ajith Persad along with Inspectors Mc Girk and Bruno, Sgt Austin, Cpl Budree and others. Five sniffer dogs were used in the searches. While this was taking place, soldiers stood at strategic positions to ensure no one entered or existed the locked down areas unless authorised by the police.

Police sources said that the exercise was incident free and those arrested were taken to Port of Spain CID and the Besson Street police station for questioning.

While some of the detained people have since appeared in the Port of Spain magistrates court to answer to charges, others remain in custody and are expected to be placed on ID parades.

The exercise was coordinated by ACP (Crime) Irwin Hackshaw.