Couva facing half-day shutdown

As such, the more than 250 member Couva/Pt Lisas Chamber of Commerce is on the verge of taking drastic action aimed at getting the authorities “to develop appropriate strategies to bring some measure of relief to the citizenry.” The Chamber has been mandated by the membership “to find a solution to the upsurge of criminal activities in the area, if not we will close down the district for half day to send a clear message to the Ministry of National Security and the Commissioner of Police that as taxpayers of the country we need protection from this scourge.”

To this end the Chamber held a meeting earlier in the week at the Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo Region-al Corporation inviting the police to discuss the overall situation under the chairmanship of the Chamber’s president, Ashmeer Mohammed.

The police were not represented at the meeting stating that they had been invited too late and that they had already been committed to other assignments.

Mohammed told the meeting that the Chamber had written to the Minister of National Security for a joint army-police patrol in the area and further had meetings with Superintendent Barnett Mayers of the Central Division and also discussion with Inspector Afzal Khan of the Couva Police Station, but “the lack of personnel and vehicles continue to prevent the police from executing their duties effectively.”

Mohammed explained to the gathering that one business that was held up has since closed down completely and others are likely to follow the same pattern if things get worse.

It came out in the meeting that a number of armed robberies had taken place, that two insurance companies were also robbed and that persons were shot and seriously injured; that several persons were abducted as passengers of vehicles; that a Justice of the Peace was robbed of his vehicle; and that there were robberies at ATM machines in Pt Lisas, a gambling club on La Croix Street, and a popular restaurant and bar along the main road.

In another instance, bandits entered the home of a contractor at Esperanza and escaped with a quantity of cash.

Banks in Couva and Pt Lisas have become targets especially Scotiabank which within a month had been robbed twice (first with $40,000 from a customer about to make a deposit and second $18,000 from a teller).

Many small businesses in the area have also reported robberies and “several of them are contemplating discontinuing business because of the frightening situation,” Mohammed said.

He explained that the criminal activities “occurred within a mile radius from the Couva Police Station so it seems that the criminals have no fear of the law.”

The Chamber is also concerned about the rapid housing expansion in and around Couva to come on stream shortly especially with the housing lots to former sugar workers “and quite clearly with the incoming of so many new residents in and around Couva, this is a recipe for social disaster if the Police Force is not improved in Central Trinidad.”

Insp Afzal Khan of the Couva Police said that they were prepared to work with any organisation to prevent the escalation of crime and in that regard they were continuing with police patrols, to make the police presence visible, and were also tackling the problems around the Brechin Castle Roundabout with Pt Lisas employees and also controlling the heavy traffic at Isaac Junction, especially at peak hours.

Insp Khan explained that the Couva Police had been strengthened on Thursday with the addition of six personnel who would be on patrol in the district both during the morning and afternoon period.