(Trinidad Guardian) For the past decade, intelligence units have been gathering information on the expansion of the Chinese Triad, a highly organised criminal unit which has spread its tentacles throughout the Caribbean. Sources say the Caribbean’s Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS) has been working with local security intelligence agencies, tracking the activities of Chinese criminal cartels in the region since 2006. In T&T, previous Governments were cautioned about a possible upsurge in criminal activity driven by Asian gangs which have been infiltrating the region.
However, no connection was made between that development and the recent huge influx of Chinese labourers into the country to work on large scale construction projects, including construction of the Prime Minister’s official residence and the National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA). Under the current administration, ties with the Chinese Government are still strong. China continues to invest millions of dollars in aid and soft loans to T&T and other Caribbean Governments.
Chinese Ambassador to T&T Yang Youming has distanced himself from reports of Asian criminal gangs operating in this country, saying he had no knowledge of those developments. He expressed concern that such reports were hurting the image of the Chinese in T&T. However, a senior intelligence source said moves by a previous Government to encourage Chinese immigration facilitated further expansion of the Chinese Triad, which disguises its illicit activities under a cover of global commercialism.
While the Triad grows, hundreds of Chinese restaurants, supermarkets, hotels, casinoes and private members clubs have sprung up throughout the country. Last month, Independent Senator Rolph Balgobin, in his contribution to debate on the Financial Intelligence (Amendment) Bill 2011, called for a police probe of several questionable new businesses in T&T. Balgobin said terrorist and criminal networks were “living high”, while genuine businesses are facing strangulation because of the global economic crisis. “Clearly many of these (new) businesses have no clear source of funding and even more importantly, they do not have a sustainable business model,” Balgobin said.
He said many of the businessmen “can’t speak the language, they haven’t even mastered the basics of the societies that they are operating in and you have a million-dollar business.” governed by a strict code of ethics which ensures that most of their activities remain secret. Members are part of a hierarchy and stringent discipline is enforced by the leaders. Coming out of the Triad is an entity known as the Snakehead Gang which is made up of the younger generation of Triad members, and who reportedly handle human trafficking. It is not known if there are Snakehead Gangs in T&T.
