Police probe machinegun photos

On perusing the letter, Ag Commissioner Phillip called in the senior officer and mandated him to put together a team of officers to begin the probe. Newsday understands that the investigators, as part of the probe, will utilise expert advice from the Police Service’s internal legal department. During the investigation, Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi and members of his family, Dr Moonilal and members of the TT Defence Force, are expected to be interviewed by the police team. The issue of whether or not any law was broken allegedly by persons close to the Attorney General, gained national prominence after Moonilal, during his contribution to debate on the Budget in Parliament on Tuesday, displayed photos of two young persons brandishing high-powered machineguns.

Moonilal said the persons in the photos resembled relatives of a senior government minister and called on Attorney General Al-Rawi to say if he knew the persons (a boy and girl) in the photos, which had been uploaded to social media.

Speaking later on Tuesday, AG Al-Rawi refused to confirm or deny if the children in the photos were his, but admitted that members of his family received a threat-assessment and training from members of the TT military at Camp Cumuto, as he was deemed a ‘high risk’ person.

While Al-Rawi has not publicly confirmed if the children in the photos are his relatives, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley - speaking in the Budget debate on Wednesday - confirmed this when in a stinging attack on the army, he said the leak of the photos had put the Attorney General’s children at risk.

Moonilal is contending that the Firearms Act was breached as the photos showed persons under the age of 25, brandishing and in one case, using firearms. The law states that no license or other authority can be given to a person under the age of 25 to possess and/or use any firearm.

He also said the military is not empowered to train any civilian in military tactics as AG Al-Rawi said members of his family underwent (the AG used the term ‘threat assessment training’) at Camp Cumuto.

Sources said that in October 2015, weeks after the People’s National Movement’s (PNM) victory in the General Election, the then freshly minted AG and his family went to Camp Cumuto to engage in training.