However, the lumber will be stored at the Forestry Division at Farm Road, St Joseph, where an inventory will be taken.

The order was made by Justice Ronnie Boodoosingh, who granted leave to exporter Guiseppi BC Ltd to challenge the decision by the comptroller to seize the containers and refuse to allow the export although, the company claimed Customs had granted all the necessary permissions.

Brent Guiseppi managing director of Guiseppi BC Ltd said the shipment of teak was scheduled to depart on the Jennifer Schpers on April 16.

The lumber was purchased from various saw millers in the Penal area and loaded into the containers.

He said the bill of lading was stamped “OK to Ship” and another form was stamped and signed. He said to date neither document has been revoked, but after the shipment was taken to King’s Wharf, San Fernando, it was seized in the Customs area of the port on April 7.

Guiseppi said he was told the goods were not going to be exported as they were considered “prohibited items.” He also contended that the comptroller has not shown that the lumber seized was harvested from forests on state lands or in forest reserves, but was only told of a document purporting to be a report from the Forestry Division of the Ministry of Agriculture which said that the timber was “positively identified as teak timber from state plantations.” “I was not allowed to make any representations prior to the issuance of the report to the defendant, nor was I allowed an opportunity to be present at any visual,” he said.

He said he had suffered loss and damage to his business as he continued to incur demurrage and storage charges from the shipping company.

In addition, he said in his lawsuit, “The logs within the container have been subjected to high heat and it is very likely that they would have cracked and diminished in value.

I have also lost the opportunity to sell on an ongoing basis with my consignee who indicated that he was willing to take eight container loads per month.” Attorneys Kelvin Ramkissoon, Leon Kalicharan and Sonya Gyan are representing Guiseppi.

After six weeks of preliminaries, quarter-final matches will be played in the Under-11, Under-13 and Under-15 age groups.

The league, newly reformatted and played under FIFA development standards this year, attracted 90 teams from across the country including Tobago.

Also taking place today, is the North Zone Under-19 final between Trendsetter Hawks and St Ann’s Rangers at the Queen’s Park Savannah from 4 pm.

QUARTER-FINAL FIXTURES: Under-11 San Fernando Soccer Academy vs Defence Force, Queen’s Park Savannah (QPS), 2 pm Queen’s Park vs Jaric Titans, Canaan Grounds (Tobago), 10 am Trendsetter Hawks vs Trincity Nationals, QPS, 3 pm Santa Cruz FA vs San Juan Jabloteh, QPS, 4 pm Under-13 St Madeline Strikers vs FC Santa Rosa, QPS, 11.30 am Santa Cruz FA vs Cunupia Extreme, QPS, 1 pm Trendsetter Hawks vs Jaric Titans, Canaan Grounds, 11 am Central FC vs Trincity Nationals, QPS, 4 pm Under-15 RSSR vs Crown Trace, QPS, 1 pm Queen’s Park vs Jaric Titans, Canaan Grounds, 12.15 pm Petrotrin Palo Seco vs Police FC, QPS, 2.30 pm Trendsetter Hawks vs FC Santa Rosa, QPS, 4 pm

The day began with a photo shoot with each of the participating teams in the league followed by the opening matches .

In the first of the two fixtures, Queen’s Park ran away 4-0 winners over Club Sando .

Shadeeka Mendes opened the scoring in the 8th minute of the game with former national Under-17 captain Anique Walker doubling the advantage on 55 minutes .

Queens Park got further goals from Ami Joy Daniel from the penalty and Lily Stauble rounded off the scoring .

The final match of the afternoon featured MIC-IT Rangers against the TT Women’s Under 17 team .

This match was evenly contested but the Rangers outfit finished 2-0 winners courtesy of goals by Shakeema Forestine in the 15th minute and Kaydeen Jack 36th minute .

The suspect, who is from East Dry River in Port of Spain, was among four detained between Thursday morning and yesterday for the attack on the well-respected priest. They are expected to face charges of armed robbery, robbery with violence, breaking and entering and false imprisonment.

On Thursday, officers led by Senior Superintendent Radcliffe Boxhill and ASP Ajith Persad and including Sgt Anthony Williams, Sgt Grant, and PCs Mayers, Fernando, Persad, Sookwah and Dianne Taylor, went to Rudolph Charles Link Road in Laventille at 4 am, where they detained a 27-year-old suspect.

He was taken to the Port of Spain CID where he was interviewed by ASP Persad and later gave a confession statement telling police how the robbery was planned. The officers, given key information by the suspect, went to Laventille and Gonzales where they detained three men including a Laventille Road, Laventille man aged 31; a 19-year-old from Laventille Road, East Dry River and an 18-year-old from Jubilee Street, Gonzales in Belmont.

Police recovered a Longines wrist watch which was among items stolen from Fr Harvey. The priest who expressed interest in meeting the four suspects will get his opportunity when he attends an ID parade today. Yesterday, ACP (Crime) Irwin Hackshaw, who co-ordinated the exercises which led to the arrests, commended Snr Supt Boxhill and ASP Persad.

When contacted yesterday, Fr Harvey said he was not aware four people were detained but added he was contacted by police and asked to attend an identification parade. Told that the robbery was planned on the belief that money from the collection would still be in the presbytery, Fr Harvey said, “No church leaves money in a presbytery or on the premises.” On Monday at 5 am, Fr Harvey was at the church’s dormitory when he was accosted by three men, one armed with a gun, who ordered him into his living quarters and robbed him of $1,000, a watch and a cell phone. They threatened to kidnap the priest, asking him if Archbishop Joseph Harris would pay $50,000 ransom, to which Harvey told them he did not think so. Fr Harvey was later hog-tied and gagged.

Fr Harvey later freed himself and alerted police.

In the championship division final, Achievers and UWI will face off from 10am. Technocrats and Preysal Phoenix face off at 2pm in the premiership final.

All the teams will be hoping for clear skies as there has been persistent rain over the last few days.

Earlier this season, Preysal Phoenix won the 50-over premiership league title.

The right-hander stole the show in a one-sided final against Preysal Government and at the end of the night, his schoolmates were all jumping for joy and celebrating.

Preysal batted first and scored a respectable 128 for five of their 25 overs. Leon Lalchan was the best of the batsmen with a controlled 23 to give his team a fighting chance with runs on the board.

When Montrose took to the crease, Jaggessar used the big stage to showcase his talent and at the end of the innings, he would have left an impression on the minds of all who saw him.

Montrose romped to victory at 131 without loss in just 14.3 overs, as Jaggessar slammed an unbeaten 75 and his opening partner Darren Goberdhan counted 48 not out. Such was the extent of Jaggessar’s domination, he struck seven sixes and five fours all told.

President of the Primary Schools cricket league, Brent Francis, said after the finals that he was very pleased with the way the season went.

“I think it was the most keenly contested finals across the board. Despite Preysal losing by 10 wickets, they had less than 10 extras which is phenomenal in under-13 cricket.

All in all, we had another good season and I think Atlantic would have yet again provided Trinidad and Tobago’s young cricketers with a platform to showcase their talent and set their careers into gear.” Earlier, Tunapuna Presbyterian took the inaugural U-11 title, when they easily defeated San Francique Hindu School by ten wickets.

Preceding the boys final, was the girls championship game and Amanda Farrow with a fine all round performance gave Bonne Aventure the title by a solitary run against Cunaripo Presbyterian. Batting first, Bonne Aventure were limited to 79 for six with Farrow stroking a team-high 27 that later proved to be a match-winning knock. In reply, Cunaripo Presbyterian stuttered in their chase with Farrow (2/6) putting the brakes on the chase as they fell just short of their target on 78 for eight when overs ran out.

BOYS FINAL At the Oval: Preysal Gov’t 128/5 (25ovs) — Leon Lalchan 23 vs Montrose Gov’t 131/0 (14.3ovs) — Justin Jaggessar 75 not out, Darren Goberdhan 48 not out. Montrose Gov’t won by 10 wkts.

BOYS U-11 FINAL At the Oval: San Francique Hindu 62/8 (10ovs) vs Tunapuna Presbyterian 65/0 (5.5ovs) – Jonah Mohammed 40 not out.

Tunapuna Presbyterian won by 10 wickets.

GIRLS FINAL At the Oval: Bonne Aventure 79/6 — Manda Farrow 27 vs Cunaripo Presbyterian 78/8 — Manda Farrow 2/6. Bonne Aventure won by 1 run.

Five players were unavailable for selection for the Regional Under-19 tournament due to international duty.

Keagan Simmons, Te-shawn Alleyne, Matthew Patrick, Cephas Cooper and Kirstan Kallicharan will be on duty with the West Indies Under-19 team for the tour of South Africa and Zimbabwe.

“I am pretty elated on being Trinidad and Tobago Under- 19 captain because of all the hard work I have put in over the years,” said the 17 year old. “Being my first time at the helm, I am looking to incorporate both the experience I possess as well as my humble temperament on and off the field,” he added.

The Queen’s Royal College student is adamant that the team will thrive in St Kitts despite missing five key players due to the abundance of talent in the squad.

Batting all-rounder Saiba Batoosingh is the only player from last year’s tournament to return to the team.

“I have been amongst a lot of new younger players and I don’t think inexperience would be much of an issue. It is just a matter of self belief and I will be more than willing to be a positive influence in whatever way possible,” said Bidaisee.

The Calcutta Sports Club player added: “Despite the five guys being away, there is still a lot of talent in the squad and once we click as a team I think we could pull off winning the tournament.”

1. Navin Bidaisee

(Captain)

2. Justyn Gangoo

(Vice-Captain)

3. Leonardo Francis

4. Saiba Batoosingh

5. Leonardo Julien

6. Avinash Mahabirsingh

7. Jayden Seales

8. Ronaldo Forrester

9. Aaron Mairam

10. Sachin Seecharan

11. Christian Thurton

12. Jean Phillipe Barrie

13. Jace Assoon

Kelvin Williams – Coach

Kerwin John – Manager

Reserves

1. Shaaron Lewis

2. Fiaz John

3. James Duncan

Nisha Bachan, 37, of Lightbourne Trace, Gasparillo, appeared in the Second Court before Magistrate Natalie Diop. It is alleged that on Wednesday at Harris Promenade, San Fernando, Bachan stole the money which belonged to Deokie Rambaran.

PC Ramdass of the Southern Division laid the charge.

Bachan, who works at the food court at Edan Centre, was not called upon to plead as the charge was laid indictably.

Unrepresented by an attorney, she told the magistrate she had never previously been before the court on any other charge.

Diop granted her $50,000 surety bail with a cash alternative of $30,000 and adjourned the matter to June 30.

The nominees for political leader in alphabetical order are Nicole Dyer-Griffith, Sharon Gopaul Mc Nicol and Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan.

Dyer-Griffith, a former Miss Trinidad and Tobago (Miss Universe) is a former COP chairman who served as a government senator and then formed the group, Alliance of Independents.

A public relations practitioner, she has hosted social discussions, “Oxygen with Nicole”.

Mc Nicol, a university lecturer who has a doctorate in psychology and has published 13 books, is a former People’s National Movement (PNM) constituency coordinator and a former COP deputy political leader.

Seepersad-Bachan is a former Minister of Energy and Minister of Public Administration, and former San Fernando West MP.

She is a trained engineer and a university lecturer. She served as COP chairman, a previously vied to be political leader.

Newsday understands that the COP may organise two meetings between the candidates and the party membership, respectively in north and south Trinidad.

Current political leader Anirudh Mahabir is not seeking re-election, and also not contesting is former leader St Augustine MP Prakash Ramadhar

Bravo, 28, has not played for the West Indies since November 3, last year. The left-hander had his match contract for a tri-nation series with Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka cancelled after making a disparaging tweet to CWI president Dave Cameron where he called him a “big idiot”.

Newsday understands that CWI has indicated to the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TT CB) that Bravo should be prohibited from playing until he removes the tweet and apologises to Cameron.

According to a source who wished to remain anonymous, this has not been well received by some of the national players selected for the practice match.

The Red Force team is captained by Marlon Richards and includes Lendl Simmons, Sunil Narine, Kevon Cooper, Rayad Emrit, Samuel Badree and Imran Khan to name a few.

Newsday has been informed that some players have flatly refused to play if Bravo is not permitted to take part.

They were hoping to match would act as a bridge to medning the relations between the regional body and the exiled player.

Since the infamous tweet, which stemmed from Cameron saying Bravo was not offered an ‘A’ contract (Bravo denied ever receiving an ‘A’ contract) because he was not performing, Bravo has been banned from regional cricket as well and has not played a match this year, missing the 2017 Regional Super50 and the four-day competition.

Speaking to Newsday yesterday, Suruj Ragoonath, CEO of the TT CB, acknowledged that Bravo’s participation in the practice match is in doubt.

He also revealed that Cricket West Indies does not want the match to be held at the National Cricket Centre in Couva.

Asked whether Bravo will be playing on Tuesday, he said: “At this point in time, Darren Bravo is in our squad.” Probed as to whether the regional governing body has an issue with Darren’s presence in the squad, he admitted, “They do. I’m working towards resolving that but the bigger issue right now is the venue. The West Indies board has an issue with playing at the NCC, what exactly is the nature of it, I’m not sure.” Ragoonath, who played 66 First Class matches for TT over a decade, said he is trying his best to get the match to be played at the NCC or at another venue.

But he noted his task is challenging as it is currently a long weekend with a public holiday on Monday.

“By tomorrow I will know for sure and only if the game is off I will send out a (press) release,” he said.

The NCC in Couva has hosted Regional Super50 (men and women) matches in the recent past with the full approval of the regional governing body.

The source told Newsday that it is the banning of Bravo and not the venue that is putting the match in doubt.