PM: Leads on million-dollar coke seizure being followed

PRIME MINISTER Patrick Manning yesterday said police are following all possible leads regarding a multi-million cocaine seizure and the discovery of four bodies between Manzanilla and Mayaro over the last few days, including obtaining help from Interpol and Venezuela’s Guardia Nacional.

Speaking at a post-Cabinet news conference at Whitehall, Manning said as chairman of the National Security Council, he was aware of these developments but it was not practice to discuss national security matters in public. He added that should police investigations and the expertise of foreign law enforcement bodies be required, they shall be sourced.  Manning gave the assurance that Trinidad and Tobago’s coastline was “relatively secure” and more on border security will be revealed in the upcoming 2003/2004 Budget.

In an exclusive Newsday interview in July, National Security Minister Howard Chin Lee revealed that TT signed a US$945,000 agreement with the United States to upgrade the country’s coastal radar network and purchase two additional vessels for the Coast Guard. Chin Lee said the new system would be similar to one used by the Israeli military to monitor arms smuggling activities into and out of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and the system which the PNM found when it came to office in 2001 was “primordial”.  The Prime Minister said he made no prejudicial statements last week against kidnap accused Sheldon “Skelly” Lovell and only “commented on the issue” of the Opposition UNC not supporting a clause in the Kidnapping Bill which would have denied bail to persons charged with kidnapping. 
Lovell is currently out on bail.

Manning also said he was not disturbed at the high failure rates of persons taking the Special Reserve Police (SRP) examinations. The Prime Minister explained that the threshhold for the exam was very high in order to obtain “the cream of the crop.”