Security stepped up for T&T PM, AG

(Trinidad Express) Security for Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and Attorney General Anand Ramlogan has been placed on high alert after police raided an apartment at the exclusive multimillion-dollar One Woodbrook Place and found images of both officials.

Police sources said images of the homes of Persad-Bissessar and Ramlogan and their security detail were also discovered at the two-bedroom apartment in which Selwyn “Robocop” Alexis and Hermala Solomon, 36, of Longdenville, Chaguanas, were arrested. Some of the images, police said, had an “X” over the faces of Persad-Bissessar and Ramlogan.

Several specially trained and heavily armed and masked officers from the Criminal Intelligence Unit (CIU) stormed an apartment on the fourth floor of the high-rise complex and raided Alexis’s apartment on Tuesday night.

A senior People’s National Movement Opposition (PNM) figure and a High Court judge, police said, also own apartments on the same floor where Alexis had been living over the past four months.

Persad-Bissessar yesterday said she was aware of Alexis’ arrest, which she described as a significant step in the fight against crime. Asked specifically if she was aware of reports that an assassination plot against her had been uncovered by police, she said no.

Speaking to members of the media after an Independence Day Defence Force function at the National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA) in Port of Spain, Persad-Bissessar said, at that time, she wasn’t informed of any possible assassination plot.

She added, “Every wanted person arrested is of significance to me, whether it be Robocop or any other. I applaud the efforts of our law enforcement officers in finding, apprehending this much sought-after individual. This is yet another indication that the measures being deployed are in the national interest.”

Asked if the arrest of Alexis is a signal that the Government was going behind the “big fish”, Persad-Bissessar said, “I am so advised that this is a major arrest that has been made.”

When contacted, Ramlogan also declined comment, and attempts to reach National Security Minister Brigadier John Sandy for comment on the issue proved futile as calls to his cellphone went unanswered.

Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of Anti-Crime Operations Mervyn Richardson said yesterday that police had been working on intelligence for quite some time, which led them to the high rise apartments shortly after 7 p.m. on Tuesday.

A senior Government source told the Express that some time yesterday, Persad-Bissessar and Ramlogan were briefed about Tuesday night’s raid at Robocop’s apartment, during an emergency meeting which was also attended by Minister Sandy, Commissioner of Police Dwayne Gibbs and Chief of Defence Staff Brigadier Kenrick Maharaj.