Return of Marine Branch

I trust that security of property and the possibility of sabotage were considered when selecting the location.

The resusciation of the Marine Branch is an extremely important and long overdue decision and I agree with Prof Ramesh Deosaran that the decision by the NAR government in 1989 to disband the Marine Branch was a bad one.

There is need for similar marine facilities in Tobago, in central and in south Trinidad. Adequate staff with appropriate equipment, fast patrol boats and shallow-draft vessels for use in shallow waters and in swamps will be required.

Appropriately, furnished offices and dormatories, telecommunication equipment, radar and the availability of helicopters for surveillance are also necessary.

Members of the Defence Force are not trained to perform the duties of police officers although they may be utilised to supplement the police during periods of emergency.

Lt Sherron Manswell, spokesperson for the Coast Guard, stated in a recent newspaper article that in 2015 there were 195 interceptions by the Coast Guard, resulting in over $18 million in marijuana being seized. Cocaine weighing 100 kilogammes was also confiscated.

And for this year to date, 204 interceptions by the Coast Guard have taken place, resulting in more than $59 million in marijuana being seized.

Areas such as Moruga, Los Iros, Las Cuevas, and the Oropouche and Caroni Swamps have been identified as routes for illegal drug shipments and I am optimistic that with police marine patrols interceptions will increase.

A recent newspaper article reminds us that on August 25, 2005, members of the Coast Guard, acting on information received, made the country’s biggest drug haul, netting 1,749 kilos of cocaine valued at $700 million — together with two rifles, three pistols, one revolver, one sub-machine gun and 247 rounds of assorted ammunition — in the caretaker’s quarters of an island home at Passy Bay, Monos Island. In May, 2008, six accused “small fish” were found guilty of possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking and for arms and ammunition and sentenced to life imprisonment. But where are the “big fish”? High Court Judge Alice Yorke- Soo Hon, sentencing the accused, expressed her astonishment that the main house at Monas Island, where the drugs, arms and ammunition were found, was never searched and she was puzzled as to why the owners of the house “never appeared to be interviewed” by the police and “why the ownership of the drugs was never ascertained.” I too was amazed that this had not happened.

She also expressed shock at the “little or no surveillance” of the country’s coastline, a shortcoming mentioned by many people, including politicians, over many years.

The resuscitation of the Marine Branch is, in my opinion, a first step to remedy this deficiency.

Speaking with the media, a former detective who probed the Monos Island bust said officers never bothered to “follow up” or further probe the matter, “since there was nothing else to go on.” “Those caught were not saying anything and we reached a dead end,” the former officer said. Plea bargaining had failed. The “big fish” were not apprehended.

In the fight against smuggling by sea there must be the sharing of intelligence information between the police, Coast Guard and the Customs and Excise Division.

It is also imperative for mutual trust and confidence to exist between fisherfolk, seaside residents and law enforcement agencies.

Appropriate rewards must be made to informant s for credible information about smuggling and other illegal activities.