Chin Lee tells UNC: Stop playing with people’s lives

Saying that the crime of kidnapping bore no allegiance to political party or  ethnic considerations, National Security Minister Howard Chin Lee yesterday called on the Opposition to stop playing politics with people’s lives.

He was piloting the Anti-Kidnapping bill in the Senate. He said today in Trinidad and Tobago  there was a success rate of 44 percent of the cases being solved, while internationally the success rate is three percent. And 55. 2 percent of kidnapped victims are released without the ransom being paid, he added. He said the kidnappers were eagerly awaiting the outcome of the debate on the bill in Parliament, hoping that “political factualism would redound to their benefit”. In a direct appeal to the Opposition, which is not supporting the measure, the National Security Minister urged them to “stop making excuses like ‘we need constitution reform.”

Chin Lee also revealed that many of the cases of kidnapping had been solved because of information passed on by the public on the crime stoppers hotline. Chin Lee praised the business and police service for establishing this “crucial anti-crime information device”. He called on the national community to make maximum use of the service, since many of the cases of kidnapping were solved because of information given by the public on the crime stoppers hot line. This information was also responsible for many arrests, he noted. Chin Lee said it was not only businessmen and women and their families who are targetted, but persons from all walks of life. He said  it was time that the legislators pull together and show kidnappers that we mean business...“and that we would not allow so few to terrorise so many”.

He said it was time for the law-makers to launch a relentless assault on the brazen kidnappers. “The citizens are at risk. Our children need your protection,” he said. The bill involved a 25- year sentence, denial of bail, $50,000 fine for information withholding, 15 year sentence for aiding and abetting and five year imprisonment for leakage of confidential bank information. All these were intended to make a career in kidnapping the most risky business a criminal could ever undertake, he said. He said in 2002 there were 29 kidnappings for ransom. He said 13 cases were solved and 38 persons charged. Out of the 38 charged,  20 were released on bail “to continue their trade”.