Cop’s death no accident

Jamal Shabazz said the death of WPC Bernadette James propelled the Jamaat into taking action against the drug dealers, as he also admitted at the Commission of Enquiry into the 1990 attempted coup, that part of the training upon becoming a Muslim, with the Jamaat, involved military and weapons training.

Shabaaz, who returned to continue his testimony at the enquiry which entered its fourth session at the Caribbean Court of Justice, Port-of-Spain yesterday, said prior to her death, James visited the Jamaat compound at Mucurapo Road and told members of having seen former National Security Minister Selwyn Richardson, former Minister Herbert Atwell and Army Major Thompson at the airport, in a room, which contained a quantity of cocaine. While reluctant at first to give the names of the three, Shabazz said he was doing so in James’ memory. He said that news of her death sent shock waves through him as she had told Jamaat members that she felt there would be a cover-up.

“I felt her death was no accident and the Jamaat al Muslimeen shared those views,” Shabazz said. James’ death, he added, prompted the Jamaat to take a more active role in ridding the country of the “cocaine menace.”

James was on an anti-terrorist exercise at Tucker Valley, Chaguaramas on October 2, 1987, when during a simulated crime scene, she was shot by a live round, which went through the front glass of the bus she was in and striking her in the chest. Thousands of blank rounds were used by the police on the exercise.

Shabazz said the notion of going and speaking with drug pushers was “laughable” and the Jamaat’s method was more militant, starting along the East/West Corridor and finding success since drug dealers would forfeit their drugs and arms to the Muslimeem.

Shabazz also said some of the Jamaat members went armed with their “personal” weapons. “And I make no apologies for saying so,” he said, adding that their exercise was a success. “There were no repeat offenders,” he said, adding that if some labelled the Jamaat’s approach as vigilantism and militancy, he would accept it.

“When we were finished with them, they did not need to go to the (police) station,” he said. Shabazz admitted there were some drug dealers who were recalcitrant and challenged the Jamaat and “history showed how they were dealt with.”

“They gave us aggressive retaliation,” he said. These drug dealers include the infamous King brothers and Anthony “Tooks” Greenidge and Stephen “Bulls” Sandy and Shabazz said they eventually had “their own run-in with the law.”

Shabazz, the national coach for the Under-20 women football team said there were also drug blocks controlled by police which they could not infiltrate but the blocks the Jamaat did infiltrate, put many dealers out of business. Because of the Jamaat’s actions, he said, the Mucurapo compound was raided often by police and they became victims of “an aggressive approach by the police which was directed by the politicians.” He said the Jamaat was painted in a certain light and their efforts to clean up the blocks became an uphill task.

He said the NAR government was instrumental in destroying programmes set up by the Jamaat to get young people in depressed areas such as Laventille, self sufficient. “We set up self-help programmes. We tried to show to the people an alternative to employ themselves other than drugs and cocaine. Our programmes were met with harsh retaliation by the NAR Government and look where we are today,” he said, in reference to the drug situation.

“It is not my intent to glorify the whole thing but we saw a government, not involved in the drug trade, but prepared to turn a blind eye and terrorise us instead. The NAR Government tolerated the drug trade,” he said.

Shabaaz, who previously testified of having been part of the “One Love” movement, which resulted in the PNM regime losing the reigns of power to the NAR, said the Jamaat felt alienated by that time also accepting suggestions by lead counsel to the commission, Avory Sinanan SC, that the Jamaat’s methodologies went outside the law.

Shabazz , who was one of the insurrectionists at Radio Trinidad studios at Maraval Road, also said the social conditions at the time, also led to the Jamaat taking the action they did. He said people would have been inclined to tighten their belts — the phrase often used in times of economic recession — if the leaders were also doing likewise.

Shabazz said teachers, including the late TTUTA president Urich Loutoo, as well as nurses were speaking out against the NAR government’s tight fiscal policies which many felt targeted the poorer class.

He said at the time the sentiments were that the NAR government was not looking after the interest of the poor man but big business. Drugs and economic hardship were playing on the mind of the Jamaat which was also a member of the Summit of the People’s Organisation (SOPO) — an amalgamation of trade unions and non-governmental organisations — at the time, he said.

As he testified about the actual planning of the July 27, 1990 insurrection, Shabazz said had the Jamaat not been the highly disciplined unit it was, they could not have “pulled off” the incident. He said they all knew they had to “do something” and he was aware that they would take the politicians hostage, but this was not explicitly told to him only that he was commanded to go to Radio Trinidad. This was not shared with the rank and file of the organisation.

He said they operated with “Faith in God” and on a “need-to-know” basis, since given TT’s society it was important to operate in this way. He made it clear that he was “part and parcel” of the action and took personal responsibility for what took place, adding that he did not want it be said he was misled by Jamaat leader Yasin Abu Bakr, or that the idea was planted in his head by Bakr.

Two weeks before the incident, Shabazz said he was aware that something was going to take place. As he gave more details of the plan, Shabazz said the setting off of the car bomb was only to alert the police.

A car bomb was detonated at Police Headquarters, killing the sentry on duty. He said had the police followed the instructions, it would have given them ample time to evacuate, adding that there were more car bombs but the Jamaat’s leader felt it was not necessary as once they saw the one bomb, they would submit.

Shabazz also said the Jamaat received information from sources from the Ministry of National Security that police and the army were expected to storm the sect’s compound and “an accident would take place”, killing them.

He described the Muslimeen’s actions as self preservation, adding that they felt they were at war with the NAR government. The country’s social problems, the squabble over the land at Mucurapo Road, their self preservation as well as the question of removing a government they saw as oppressive, led to their actions.

“I am truly sorry for the non-combatants and how they met their demise. I would not glorify or substantiate the attack but at the time we needed it necessary action,” he said. Shabazz also said he was made aware that the police and Army would not prevent them from carrying on with their plans, and would even assist.

Of the looting and the burning of downtown Port-of-Spain, Shabazz said it was shocking to him. ‘We did not subscribe to that action. It was shocking to see the devastation,” he said. On the evening of the 1990 insurrection, Shabazz said there were people who were not Muslimeen who joined them, naming Belmont calypsonian “Latiff” as one of them. “There were mainly civilians,” he said. “I don’t know how they came but they were not part of the assault action,” he said.

He said it was not the first time Muslimeen members held guns as they received military training from the time they became Muslims, as a form of defending themselves and their families.

The Jamaat also had its own para-military group known as the Guardians Of Islam (or GOI) and they received training from time to time. He said part of the indoctrination into the Jamaat was receiving military training and training for combat.

Some two weeks before the insurrection, Shabazz said there were training camps conducted and he also received training in the Middle East. He also revealed that the youngest Jamaat member at the time of the insurrection Nigel Braxton, who was said to be 12 years old at the time, was not given a gun, but had seen Bakr on the television and went to TTT studios. He admitted that Braxton had knowledge in the use of guns, but received his training from a relative who was a policeman. Shabazz also admitted to some level of incompetence on the part of the Jamaat, saying he did not think they did their calculations properly.

Shabazz is expected to return today to complete his testimony.