They were remanded in custody to re-appear on May 16.

The three from Coora Road in Siparia and ranging in age from 25 to 64 were arrested on Saturday night during an exercise along the Penal Quinam Road.

Police reported that at about 9 pm, officers of the Rapid Response Unit, South Western Division led by Cpl Rojas, acting on a tip-off, intercepted a vehicle with the three occupants.

Upon searching the vehicle officers discovered the shotgun, three rounds of ammunition and the camouflage jacket hidden in the car.

The three were taken into custody and later charged by PC Bedassie of the Rapid Response Unit.

Maharaj, in a press release, said Rambharat who once held the portfolio of corporate secretary at Caroni (1975) Ltd is aware of the Retrenchment and Severance Package offered to thousands of ex-workers.

“We wish to remind that on assuming the portfolio of Minister of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries, he promised that in a year’s time, this long outstanding issue would be dealt with. To date, thousands of ex-workers are still waiting for their residential and agricultural leases, while subsequent governments have breached a mandatory Court Order handed down in the Deyalsingh Judgement of 2007, and a Consent Order of the Industrial Court of 2003,” Maharaj said.

“There is no doubt no other group has been as unfairly treated in this country as the ex-Caroni workers have,” the union leader said, claiming that almost a quarter of the total number of workers retrenched, when Caroni 1975 Ltd was closed down, have died without having receiving their land and leases.

“We are calling on Minister Rambharat and the Prime Minister to do the right thing and bring an end to the suffering, frustration and misery of this group of people who laboured, sometimes in the worst conditions, to serve our nation, to survive and build a life for their families,” Maharaj said.

This was revealed yesterday by ASP Michael Pierre at the weekly police press briefing held at the Police Administration Building in Port-of- Spain.

Pierre said from Good Friday to Easter Monday, police officers conducted speed detection exercises on all the major highways which resulted in the issuance of 580 speeding tickets. More than 100 of those were issued in Tobago where the speed limit on the Claude Noel Highway is 50kph.

Pierre also said 28 people were also arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol. Police officers conducted 324 field sobriety tests. Police also conducted foot and mobile patrols in all areas including coastal areas, beaches, rivers used for recreational activities, camp-sites, highways, residential areas and at various church activities As a result, the Police Service is boasting that, in comparison to last year, there has been a considerable reduction in crimes during the Easter weekend.

Newsday was told that four murders were committed as compared to six last year, there was only one report of a sexual offence as compared to six last year, and six reports of robbery as compared to 17 in 2016.

In the letter dated April 18, Gideon Mc Master, said since Le Blanc reported the incident, which occurred on April 16 and which caused him serious head injuries, he has not been contacted by the Guyana police.

Le Blanc was hit on the head by a glass object hurled at him by a man in a car park at the club where he had preformed earlier.

He received over 20 stitches for gashes he sustained. He was also reported being threatened with a gun by another man.

Mc Master provided the names of the two men who were involved in the incident along with photographs of them.

“We wish to indicate that our client remains willing to assist the Guyana Police Force in any way he can with any proposed and/or ongoing investigations,” he said.

Apart from the images, Mc Master said, “We are also in possession of a dossier of witness statements which, we believe, might be of assistance to you.” He said he will forward them to the police in due course.

Meanwhile, Le Blanc in a message on his Facebook page thanked his fans, friends and well wishers for their support.

Stating that he was sad at what happened, he said, “By the grace of the All (sic) I will recover from this.” Asking the public not to slander the country because of the actions of two individuals, he said, “Guyana I still love you.”

Gopaul said the number of bush fires two weeks ago was 481. He said the additional 239 occurred mainly in the Central and Northern ranges which saw fire officers battling with fires which could have been avoided. Gopaul blamed some house owners for not heeding advice to exercise the necessary precautions during the dry season.

In 2016 there were 1,626 bush fires in both islands. The Central and Northern ranges accounted for most of the fires and, according to Gopaul, there was one instance where a house in south was destroyed.

He said the Fire Service continues to issue advisories urging people to clean around their premises and to secure fire permits at a cost of $10 when they are clearing away lands for planting and for burning garbage around their homes.

He said most people tend to ignore this advice and call upon fire officers to intervene when a lot of damage may have already occurred.

Gopaul pointed out that once a permit is obtained, a fire guardian is assigned to the permit holder so that he or she could be advised on how to dispose of rubbish or bush.

He said during the dry season the earth is already parched and fire would spread very easily.

He said the Fire Service is well equipped to take care of the bush fires with the additional five tankers purchased recently and five more are expected.

Brooks said under the tenure of his predecessor Chan Chadeesingh, NGC spent, “$370 million spent in roadworks and upgrade of recreational facilities.” He explained that since assuming office, his board has, “Returned the spend to a far more palpable number of $15 million or less.” He reiterated, “We are not trying to pave every road in Trinidad or any road because that is not our core business.”

Referring to the controversial Beetham wastewater treatment plant, Brooks said, “We are not trying to get involved in water treatment.”

As he explained that the expenditure at NGC under the PP only served to “weaken the balance sheet of the company,” Brooks gave the assurance that the company now has its priorities right. “We have to focus our resources on growing the NGC through acquisition activities, organic growth and through investment in our people.” Saying that the Teak and Poui platforms were causing the NGC to register annual losses of $250 million, Brooks boasted the company was able to, “Rationalise that business and save a quarter of a billion dollars.”

He also said NGC saved another $12 million and reduced insurance costs across the group.

NGC president Mark Lo Quan said new ethics and conflict of interest policies, “Are now approved by the board and sanctioned across the entire NGC Group.” Company vice president (corporate governance and compliance) Maria Thorne said employees are required to sign conflict of interest declaration forms. Earlier in the hearing, PAEC chairman Wade Mark noted that gas sales for the NGC declined from $15.8 billion in 2014 to $12.5 billion in 2015.

Over the same period, Mark said wages increased from $338 million to $623 million in the same period.

Mahabir yesterday chaired a Joint Select Committee (JSC) on Social Services and Public Administration.

Also at the meeting were NGOs – the Animal Welfare Network (AWN) and TT Veterinary Association.

Both the EMA and ministry each initially said they were not the only agency to act on hazards posed by fireworks to animal well-being, but ultimately they agreed to Mahabir’s call to do more, including asking the Ministry of National Security to block the import of fireworks harmful to animal (and human) health.

EMA chairman Gayatri Maharaj agreed to a suggestion to research the decibel level produced by fireworks locally and to include fresh data in amended noise pollution rules. Veterinary Association president Dr Nicholas Mc Kenzie said fireworks cause great distress to cats and dogs whose hearing is many times more sensitive than humans to noise. They can die directly from the trauma of firework noise and from injuries sustained when they flee noise, amid “a sharp rise in firework- related injuries.” He spoke of cases where fireworks had panicked animals into escaping their premises and running onto roads where they ran the risk of being struck dead by motor vehicles. He said sometime ago a driver on a highway had swerved to avoid a panic-stricken dog but caused an accident which killed someone.

Mc Kenzie also lamented that there are people who use fireworks to maliciously injure animals.

He said veterinary clinics see more injured animals in the period of Divali to post New Year and vets get a tremendous increase in requests for tranquillisers.

“You can’t keep an animal drugged up from October to the end of January.” Mahabir asked if the ministry ever enforces animal cruelty laws, namely the Summary Offences Act sections 78 and 79, which impose a $400 fine and two months imprisonment. Deputy permanent secretary Claudelle Mc Kellar replied that the ministry mainly sees its remit as animal importation and disease control in animals kept for food production.

Minister of Works and Transport Rohan Sinanan lamented the EMA’s and the ministry’s initial lukewarm responses to animal cruelty and wondered if the issue would be best handled by a new special within the Police Service.

“The major problem is the indiscriminate use of fireworks,” said Mc Kenzie, suggesting fireworks be curbed by the need for a licence and a restriction on the hours of discharge. AWN’s Sita Kuruvilla noted a call in Britain to limit firework use to traditional holidays and to a level of under 120 decibels. She urged a reduction in firework sales to the general public.

Apart from noise, Mahabir said the EMA Act bans the discharge of toxic chemicals into the air.

Maharaj promised to notify her board, and EMA technical services manager Wayne Rajkumar suggested the use of more environmentally friendly fireworks.

Deputy Speaker Esmond Ford suggested the use of silent fireworks to eliminate noise.

At a meeting yesterday with Education Minister Anthony Garcia and officials of his ministry, president of the association Cogland Griffith said the idea was taken from the success of a similar initiative in private schools. The meeting was held at the ministry’s head office in Port-of-Spain.

Griffith argued that the lunch break is “teachers’ time” and it is unfair for one principal to monitor hundreds of children.

The one-hour lunch break, he said, was introduced at a time when teachers and children lived in the community and were able to go home for lunch but times have since changed and schools need to change with the times.

In response Garcia said, “We feel there is merit in it.” He added, however, that it was a policy shift and further discussions will have to be held with the Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers Association, National Parent Teachers Association and other stakeholders.

He said several other concerns were raised and recommendations made. These will be examined by the ministry.

These include adequate training of teachers, the standardisation of school reports across all schools, and concerns about the national tests and the Secondary Entrance Assessment 2018.

Secretary of the association Indira Birju-Daniel said one of the concerns with standardised tests was the inclusion of the new primary curriculum rewrite that is taking place and whether it will be infused in the assessments.

“We have asked for guidelines, the table of specifications that complements the curriculum and assists teachers with preparation,” she said.

The national tests are on hold because it is being rebranded the National Learning Assessment, she said. “There is supposed to be a pilot project with the new form of assessment and the principals have not been consulted to date on that initiative.” Garcia said a meeting has been set with all principals of all primary schools in the new school term, so that many of the concerns raised at the meeting will be addressed.

Among the other issues discussed was the suspension of the principal of Mayaro Government Primary School which, Griffith said, the association believes there was a breach in the process.

Saying that the association was not happy about the suspension, he said: “We are looking forward to a speedy resolution of this matter.

We have the assurance today that the matter will be dealt with expeditiously.” On the ministry’s mandate to reduce the sugar content in drinks with alternatives, Griffith said the association suggested that it should not be reduced all at once but incrementally.

Reiterating that there has been a decrease in the incidence of violence in schools, Garcia and Griffith said that contrary to some people saying that the data was manipulated, the ministry never issued any instruction to any principal not to suspend students or to reduce the suspension of students.

“If data has shown there has been a reduction in the incidence of violence, Griffith said, “We want to take credit for that. It means that we are working. That we are doing our job.” Garcia said the reduction in indiscipline speaks volumes about principals. “We have been able to secure a reduction which we should appreciate instead of having persons pour scorn on it.”

Adrian Bradshaw opened the scoring with a free kick strike to put Republic Bank XI 1-0 ahead before TT drew level through a goal by midfielder Josiah Edwards.

The quick-fire start by both teams didn’t last for much longer than midway through the first half as the tempo dropped as the interval approached. Latapy introduced eight new players at the start of the second half as he intended to rotate the squad.

The TT team would go on to seal a 3-1 victory with goals coming from Jean-Heim McFee and late penalty from Tyrese Pierre.

“It was the right kind of game for the boys at this stage of the preparations,” Latapy said after the match, which was also used to mark the opening of the Republic Bank National Youth League as TTFA (TT Football Association) president David John-Williams and Republic Bank’s General Manager — General Risk Management — Anthony Subero met the teams before the start of the encounter “It was their first game wearing a national shirt and having them out there walk out before the spectators and lining up for the national anthem and these sort of things is important for them to experience at this time in their careers. There is still work to be done. I remember when I had my first outing for the national team, what a special moment it was and my career grew from there.

Hopefully it can be the same for these youngsters,” Latapy added.

TT will participate at the CONCACAF Boys Under-15 Championship in Orlando, Florida, United States in August and Latapy is also hoping to lead the U-15 team at an international tournament in the Cayman Islands in early May.

“I think a trip like this for the young boys will be invaluable experience.

It will be a good chance for the players and for the coaching staff to measure up against international opponents to see where we stand. It is also a chance for us to mould the team together and to see what is required looking ahead to further international competitions later down the road,” the former TT men’s team captain and coach said.

This was after Crystian Thurton slammed his second consecutive century of the tournament to give Central Zone a challenging total in the first semi-final of the age group competition staged at the National Cricket Centre Ground in Balmain, Couva.

Electing to bat first after winning the toss, Central made 251 all out in 49.5 overs in brilliant sunshine, but defending champions East rained on their parade with a clinical batting display to reach 253 for seven wickets in 47.1 overs.

Thurton, who notched 103 when Central beat South in the third round of the competition last week, was again in brilliant form as he made 106 off 129 balls with ten boundaries and two maximums in 171 minutes of exhilarating batting.

He got good support from opener Matthew Patrick who got 48 with six fours, while Saiba Batoosingh chipped in with 36 including four boundaries. Thurton also featured in two big partnerships—- with Patrick worth 108 runs for the third wicket, and 80 with Batoosingh for the fourth.

Most outstanding bowler for East Zone was Sachin Seecharran who had an excellent spell of five overs with one maiden while claiming three wickets for 22 runs. Te-Shawn Alleyne snared two for 40 in six overs and one ball, while Renaldo Forrester and Aaron Mairam took one apiece. With runs on the board, Central would have fancied their chances, but poor fielding and intermittent loose bowling proved their undoing as Francis crashed three boundaries and two maximums to fall just 14 short of a well-deserved century.

Batting prodigy Kallicharan, just back from a West Indies Under-19 specialised coaching programme, played a significant role in the East win with nine boundaries in his knock, while Seecharan contributed 29 and Leonardo Julien made 25 in the winning total.

For Central, Emilo Gopaul took two for 25; Kyle Madoo grabbed two for 26; while Jayden Seales, Batoosingh and James Duncan had one each.

East will now play the winner of the second semi-final between South-East and Tobago, scheduled for tomorrow at Shaw Park in Tobago.

The final of the Shell Under-19 Inter Zone tournament will be staged on Friday, April 28 at the NCC Ground in Balmain, Couva.