‘Cops afraid of drug lords’

SEVERAL Arima residents are complaining about the inaction of officers attached to the Arima Police Station due to their fear of the “drug lords in the area” and threats from their superiors.

One female resident who preferred to remain unidentified said that on Friday night after leaving a party she and her family were heading home along Temple Street Arima when a group of “pipers” blocked the road. “When we asked them to move, they began throwing bottles at the car and then they attacked one of my relatives who had to be treated for serious cuts all over his face and body. When we made a report, the police said that they couldn’t promise any action because there are higher ranking officers who told them not to deal with the matter,” said the emotional woman. The woman continued, “How could the police allow these people to run amok in a law-abiding land?”

Another resident was able to recount similar incidents but attributes them to the fear of “drug lords.” The man declared, “Earlier this week a man and his wife came to visit their relatives on Temple Street. They were taken out of their car and beaten by the men liming on the block. Up to now the police never came to their assistance. The constables in the station are willing to help and they empathise with us but the big boys tell them not to deal with cases involving these drug lords. If they get involved, they get transferred the next morning!”

The angry resident went on to say that the inaction by police is what leads law-abiding, church-going citizens to perform gruesome acts of violence. “Ordinary people are living in danger and soon enough you’ll start to find these menaces with their hands cut off lying in a canal somewhere!” added the man. Cpl Williams of the Arima CID said that he had received numerous calls from residents, some of which he responded to personally. Williams stated, “I personally went out to some of those scenes just to find absolutely nothing. People are wasting our time and taking the police for fools.” The officer did however say that an actual victim of one such attack had visited the station yesterday morning after reportedly being attacked by a close relative of one of the alleged “prank callers.” He did not comment on the “drug lord” accusation. Arima Police are continuing their investigations.