N Touch

Cops seize ‘coke’ concealed in soap

A FEMALE pensioner was among nine persons arrested by Central Division police yesterday following a raid on a mini mart in Longdenville, where police seized a quantity of cocaine concealed in bars of soap. The 73-year-old woman and eight other persons, who were in the mini-mart at the time of the raid, have been arrested and charged with possession of cocaine and are expected to appear before a Chaguanas Magistrate today. Reports revealed that around 4.30 pm a party of officers led by Ag Sgt Ajith Persad, Head of the Central Division Robbery Squad and other officers, executed a search warrant at the mini mart and seized 20 bars of soap.

Officers removed the soap from the wrappers and examined the soap thoroughly. They discovered the illegal narcotic, hidden inside the hollow soap bars. Police officers believe that the soaps were being sold to members of the public. Other officers in the exercise were PCs Singh, Harriet, Mohammed and WPC Bishop. The exercise was coordinated by Snr Supt Philip Carmona.

Wanted: Housing for Cuban doctors

The Health Ministry is advertising for private accommodations for the Cuban doctors it recruited  to alleviate the shortage in the health sector. Six Cuban doctors and 30 nurses arrived in TT on July 24, and an additional 34 doctors and ten nurses are  expected this month. Joining them will be 100 United Nations doctors. The advertisement in yesterday’s Newsday stated that the Ministry is seeking one, two and three bedroom houses or apartments in close proximity to nine health institutions. The list includes Port-of-Spain General Hospital, San Fernando General Hospital, Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, Arima District Health Facility, Princes Town District Health Facility and Couva District Health Facility.

Interested persons must send full particulars to Joyce Stewart, Permanent Secretary in the Health Ministry. Deadline date for submissions is August 19. Health Minister Colm Imbert has said the Ministry received “offers” from small hotels and private residences to accommodate the Cubans. Doctors and nurses quarters across the country are to be “systematically upgraded,” and Imbert said the Ministry intended to use private accommodation for medical personnel to be near their work places. Imbert said the Ministry was using a real estate agent so there would be a mix of public and private accommodation being used.

Businessman robbed of cash, jewelry

A CLUB owner was robbed of nearly $8,000 in cash and jewelry while liming on Saturday night. Mitra Gangoo, proprietor of Obsession Recreation Club, was in company with two friends at Chapelle Street, Claxton Bay, when three men — two armed with guns and the other with a knife — accosted them. Police said Gangoo’s two friends managed to escape, but he fell victim to the armed bandits. The club owner was robbed of two gold beras (bracelets), an ID band, two rings, two chains and a quantity of cash — a total value of $7,790. The bandits escaped on foot. A report was made to the St Margaret’s police and WPC Charles is continuing inquiries.

Panday, Williams, Fuad slam AG

OPPOSITION LEADER Basdeo Panday, former Senate President Michael Williams and Barataria/San Juan MP Dr Fuad Khan all took Attorney-General Glenda Morean to task yesterday over the non-appointment of a new Integrity Commission (IC) and proposals being considered by Cabinet for its future. Morean indicated that at its weekly meeting on Thursday, Cabinet will consider either replacing the IC with an Anti-Corruption Commission or strengthening the powers of the existing IC. She said either case involved taking legislation to Parliament which required Opposition support for passage and was optimistic that the UNC would support the legislation. However when contacted yesterday, Panday said it was “very difficult” to say whether the UNC would support this legislation since the Government had not consulted the Opposition on the matter to date nor was any member of the UNC privy to the contents of the proposed legislation. He said the UNC would have to wait until the legislation is tabled in Parliament next month and analyse it thoroughly before making its position clear.

While reiterating that the IC in its current form was not effective to deal with corruption, Williams stressed: “Until new legislation is in place, the existing IC act remains the law of Trinidad and Tobago which the President, Prime Minister and the AG have all sworn to uphold.”  He claimed “all Morean’s talk about anti-corruption legislation from Hong Kong is just so much eyewash to protect Manning’s PNM clique from making IC declarations which ironically imposed on all who went before.” For his part, Khan slammed Manning and Government Ministers Colm Imbert, Dr Keith Rowley and Ken Valley for supporting the Integrity in Public Life Act 2000 just to “make political mileage against the UNC.” The UNC MP claimed that now that the PNM was in power, integrity no longer mattered and corruption was the order of the day in the Manning Administration.

TT take U-19 one-day title

GEORGETOWN: Watched by a small but vocal crowd in overcast conditions, Trinidad and Tobago beat defending champions Windward Islands by five runs, at Bourda yesterday in an exciting final of the TCL regional Under-19 one-day cricket series. It was their first regional U-19 title since Brian Lara led them to championship honors in Jamaica in 1987. Lendl Simmonds produced his best innings in the competition to hit five fours in 49, and along with Tishan Maraj (28) and Petrock Nicholas (24) rallied Trinidad and Tobago to 157-7 when their allotted 30 overs expired. The Trinidadians were asked to bat first in a game reduced to 30 overs, due a 1 pm start caused by morning rain in Georgetown yesterday. Fast bowler Ravi Rampaul then bowled with genuine pace on a flat track, to claim 3-31.

He received good support from left arm spinner Kavesh Kantasingh and off-spinner Kapil Subran, who captured two wickets each to dismiss the Windwards, playing in their third consecutive regional one-day U-19 final, for 152 in the last over to spark off wild celebrations from the lads from Carnival country. With the small crowd urging both teams on in fading light, Eavin Fredricks who made a fighting 22 with three boundaries from 12 balls, missed an almighty swing at Kantasingh off the penultimate ball of the match and was stumped by captain and wicket-keeper Dinesh Ramdin with the Windwards needing six to win from two balls. It was the second time in the competition that Trinidad and Tobago had defeated the Windwards, as they ended the eight-team tournament unbeaten. Earlier Derwin Charles hit three fours from 50 balls in 43 to set up the exciting finish, but got little support as only Fredericks and opener Miles Bascombe of the other Windwards batsmen passed 20.

The pace of Rampaul, who holds the record for dismissing all 10 batsmen in a regional youth game, and the spinners made free scoring difficult for the Windwards, after Bascome had smashed five consecutive boundaries off pacer Vishnu Narine in the second over of the innings. Marvin Matthews again troubled the batsmen with his controlled pace bowling to finish with 3-27 and got support from Jean Paul who took 2-36. But the innings of Simmons and the bowling of Rampaul, the two first class players in the Trinidad team, proved decisive in the end. The game between host Guyana and Barbados at the Uitvlught ground for third and fourth fifth place was washed out without a ball being bowled. The TCL competition resumes tomorrow with four first round games in the three-day competition.                 

Connection hold Jabloteh to 1-1 draw

A LATE goal by St Kitts striker George Isaac gave W Connection a 1-1 draw against leaders CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh in their top-of-the-table 12th round clash in the T&T Pro League yesterday. But the crowd at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo by would have been disappointed at the overall display of both teams, with individual play taking centre stage instead of team creativity. Jabloteh striker Cornell Glen, a thorn in the Connection defence for the entire match, had the first goalscoring opportunity, shooting wide from a Josh Johnson centre in the 14th minute while, two minutes later, Connection striker Jason Marcano had his shot saved by Kelvin Jack after eluding Jabloteh stopper Ansil Elcock. With no Connection striker providing support to midfielder Lyndon “Chubby” Andrews in a goalbound attack in the 27th, the 27-year-old sent a 30-metre blast inches wide of the mark. Jack did well to stop a 34th minute rocket from Kerwyn “Hardest” Jemmott while, six minutes later, Jabloteh striker Devon Mitchell saw his goal disallowed by referee Ramesh Ramdhan after a rough tackle on Connection midfielder Ronaldo Viana.

Luck would strike Jabloteh’s way three minutes into the second half, with Mitchell finding fellow national player, left-back Nigel Daniel who shrugged off the challenge of Stokely Mason and sent a low right-footer past Connection’s goalie Alejandro Figueroa. Figueroa was blinded by a dummy from Glen but the introduction of substitutes Silvio Spann, Arnold Dwarika and Isaac gave Connection’s attack a renewed look in the final half-hour of play. Jack was again called into action, punching away a blast from Spann in the 57th but, despite the ejection of defender Kenwyne Jones in the 84th, got the vital equaliser two minutes from time. The Jabloteh defence failed to clear a loose ball, leaving midfielder Gefferson Goulart with the simple task of finding an unmarked Isaac who powered his left-footer past Jack. Over in the sister isle Tobago, South Starworld Strikers remained atop the Under-20 standings with a 7-0 whipping of Tobago United at the Dwight Yorke Stadium, Bacolet. Brent Julien and Solomon Beaumont each netted a double for the victors while Nicholas Fortune, Damien La Fortune and Andy Edwards chipped in with one apiece. Jabloteh jumped to second spot after a 3-2 win over Connection with goals from defender David James (40th), Jerol Forbes (62nd) and Rennie Britto (84th) while Toshua Benjamin had a double (59th and 90th) in a losing cause for Connection.  A full slate of five matches in round 13, in both senior and Under-20 divisions, will take place on Wednesday.

Manswell wins opener

BOXER KERSTON Manswell began his quest for a gold medal, in the heavyweight division, with a victory over Colombian opponent Tomas Orozco in his preliminary round bout at the 14th Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on Saturday night. The Roxborough-born pugilist, who took silver in the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England last year, will meet Francisco Nunez, also from D/Republic in his next encounter tomorrow night. Also on Saturday night, the final night of track and field competition, the national 4×100 metre women’s team of Keenan Gibson, Fana Ashby, Wanda Hutson and Kelly-Ann Baptiste finished fourth in a new TT record of 43.97 seconds. The men’s 4x400m quartet of Jacey Harper, Sheridan Kirk, Jamil James and Damion Barry placed fourth in three minutes 5.28 seconds. Last year’s Women’s Player of the Year Oire Trotman notched a double while Stacy Siu Butt and Nicole Dixon added one apiece as the national women’s hockey squad defeated Jamaica 4-0 yesterday.
 
The hockey lasses will meet the United States tomorrow night for fifth spot while the TT men will face Canada in the afternoon, also for fifth place. Trinidad and Tobago’s hopes for success in the badminton event ended yesterday. In the men’s singles, Anil Seepaul and Kerwyn Pantin were beaten by the Guatemalan pair of Alejandro Yang and Erick Anguiano while Seepaul and Zeudi Mack were eliminated by the Brazilian duo of Lucas Araujo and Patricia Oelke in the mixed doubles. And, in the women’s doubles, Nadine Julien and Stephanie Mitchell were hammered 15-1, 15-3 by the American twosome of Mesinee Mangkalakiri and Jamie Subandhi. Action today continues in swimming with George and Nicholas Bovell, Linda McEachrane, Ayeisha Collymore, Katherine Lee Ha and Sharntelle McLean vying for places in tonight’s finals. The Bovell brothers will take to the pool this morning for the 200-metre freestyle heats, McEachrane, Lee Ha and McLean will vie for a final spot in the 100m free while Collymore will compete in the 400m individual medley.

Local cricket riding a crest

Second vice-president of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB), Dudnath Ramkeesoon has boldly stated that local cricket is in a very healthy state. “Judging by the number of youths doing so well in the Carib National League, I can say with some authority that local cricket in Trinidad and Tobago is in a healthy position,” Ramkeesoon said. The 1978 West Indies youth team captain said the Carib National League is very competitive judged by the fact that just one point separated the top teams in this year’s tournament. Ceramic Merryboys Cricket Club won the championship by one point over First Citizens Clarke Road United.  For the past three seasons the top flight has been very tight with the eventual winners scraping home. “When youths are performing well, then you know that the future of the game is safe.

A short while a back the veterans were dominating the leagues and the youths were just passengers. If you look around now the youths are doing much better and challenging their more illustrious colleagues,” the former Presentation College, Chaguanas captain and star batsman said. “Generally youth cricket in Trinidad and Tobago has improved tremendously over the past few seasons and this augers well for the future of the game in Trinidad and Tobago,” he said. Trinidad and Tobago Under-15 cricket team won the regional title for three successive years from 2000 to 2002. The Under-19 team have been runners-up three times in the past four years, while the Under-13s have enjoyed success against their Barbadian counterparts on an annual basis. Ramkeesoon, who is also chairman of the National League Cricket Committee added that things have been put in place for the development of the cricketers. “And now things are working out for us. The Sir Frank Worrell Development Cricket Centre is fully equipped with all the modern technology and our players have a huge advantage over the others in the region. “We also have good home grown coaches who can impart their knowledge to the youngsters while they are at the centre. I see no need really for a foreign coach to be attached to the centre. “What I think makes sense is to bring in a man like Rodney Marsh from Australia to work with our local coaches at the centre to develop their teaching skills, so that they can be better equipped to handle the youngsters,” Ramkeesoon said.

Horse bites off trainer’s thumb

An assistant trainer had the top joint of her thumb bitten off by a horse on an eventful morning yesterday at Santa Rosa Park, Arima. Gail Romero, companion and assistant to astute trainer Maniram “Boboy” Maharaj lost part of her thumb when Bon Voyage snapped at her during an inspection of the animal on his return from a workout early in the morning. A witness to the incident said the five-year-old chestnut gelding appeared irritated and bit at Romero’s finger and swallowed the severed portion. The distressed young assistant trainer was rushed to the Southern Medical Centre where she underwent an emergency operation. Trainer Maharaj, when contacted yesterday, confirmed the incident.  “A piece of skin had to be grafted over the bone. “She was placed under anaesthetics and is presently asleep,” he said. “She has to return to the nursing home tomorrow,” Maharaj said. The incident did not prevent horses from the stable, easily recognised by their green and white colours,  being turned out, as the responsibilities were passed on to the head lad. With the first classic for the juvenile generation drawing near, trainers were seen working feverishly with their babes preparing them for baptism.

Among the advanced seen out doing speed-work were runners from some of the leading stables. Atlantic Breeze, Jay Low and Angelino representing champion trainer John O’Brien’s stable showed signs of readiness,  posting 36.01 seconds  for their 600-metres spin. Blue Reign and Not This Time, which hail from the Grant Lourenco barn, were, others to have caugh the eyes. The pair, working the same acreage in company, went a shade slower in 36.16 seconds. A son of Honour And Glory is another to be shortlisted. The un-named individual from the small string of trainer Ryan Shim was full of life in his solo spin registered in 36.90. Other good performances on the morning came from Serah’s Trick (23.80); Blondie, Rocket; Bold Blush and Chief Of Staff (37.87); Gaza Strip (36.50); Bite De Bullet (36.58); Morgan Heritage and Fromnowuntil (36.17); Ooze and Senor Gucci (36.20); and Cyber Five, whose  35.03 was fastest over 600 metres.


Following are the recorded gallops.


400 METRES: Serah’s Trick – 23.80, good. Guatama – 24.21, good. Hunt The Magic – 29.90, pacing. Golden Eye and Care Free – 29.l97, pacing. New Song and Ice Follies – 29.25, pacing. Gettesburg and Cheerleader – 26.27, handily. Alex – 26.45, ridden out. Tricky Guy – 26.46, easy. City Of Lights – 26.68, handily. Hyarima – 27.12, easy. Alammanamou and Islend Chimes – 29.98, pacing.


600 METRES: Cyber Five – 35.03, good. Blue Reign and  Not This Time – 36.16, good. Ooze and Senor Gucci – 36.20, good. Morgan Heritage and Fromnowuntil – 36.17, good. Ex Honour And Glory – 36.90, good. Bite De Bullet – 36.58, good. Atlantic Breeze, Jay Low and Angelino – 36.01, good. Gaza Strip – 36.50, good. Blondie, Rocket, Bold Blush and Chief Of Staff – 37.87, handily. Confirmed – 39.96, handily. Invincibility – 44.99, pacing. Phantom Bidder – 42.18, pacing. Ring Dang Do – 44.98, pacing. Misty Rose, French Academy and Joint Account – 41.33,  handily. Francesca – 38.75, handily. Ula – 42.71, pacing. Ex If I Do – 44.83, pacing. Judge Judy – 43.10, pacing. Kalyan – 39.94, handily. Movietowne Magic – 44.96, pacing. Ex Real Jenny and Smart And Lucky – 43.83, pacing. Once In A Lifetime – 40.40, handily. Saxon Dance – 44.17, pacing. Tactical Bid – 38.32, handily. Naturelly Classy – 44.99, pacing. 


800 METRES: Winning Trick – 49.96, good. Crimson Tower – 50.21, good. Outrageous Victory and Indian Decision – 50.36, good. Outswinger – 59.92, pacing. Ruby Rich – 55.12, handily. You’ve Got Mail – 51.52, handily. Sure Wager – 51.55, handily. Golden Honour – 52.20, handily. Twist N’Turn – 51.81, handily. Millenium Reign – 58.08, pacing. Loud Music – 56.43, pacing. Mucho Tempo – 52.19, handily. Undercover Angel – 54.14, handily. Piece Of Cake and Dunsborough – 52.73, handily. Canaima – 52.49, handily.


1000 METRES; Fantastic Lad and Peace Consort – 1:05.22, handily. Yaa Asantewaa and Ex Caribbean Princess – 1:07.31, handily. 

Point repel Little Devils b-ballers

Point Fortin All Stars repelled the best efforts of the Caribbean Little Devils at the Southwestern Indoor Sports Facility, Point Fortin, on Friday night taking a 71-59 win off of the reigning Suriname Basket-ball League champs. K King provided a match-high 16 points while S Russell put in 10 points while for Little Devils, Watson Herbert scored 10 and Rain Yambo got seven. But the visitors fell just short of the win that would have given them a 2-1 finish in the three-match goodwill series. National Flour Mills continued their unbeaten run in the four-team competition with a 85-73 thrashing of the Marabella Raptors who had a contrasting record of three losses. Marlon Drakes scored a match-high 17 points, Marlon Bernard scored 11 and Jason Delise let in 10 to put them in line for the NFM win. For Raptors, Damien Caton, a stalwart in the team scored 10 points and A Grant put in 11. The competition was hosted by the Trinidad and Tobago Basketball Federation and is part of their efforts to bring basketball back to prominence here.