Abu Bakr spends second night in custody

(Trinidad Express) Insurrectionist Yasin Abu Bakr and eight other members of the Jamaat-al-Muslimeen spent a second night under police guard at various police stations throughout the country last night as investigators continue their enquiries into the murder of senior counsel Dana Seetahal.

However, a key suspect in the murder and his male relative were officially cautioned by police yester­day afternoon on their alleged involvement in Seetahal’s murder.

The Express was reliably informed the key suspect and his rela­tive, who are both incarcerated pending an ongoing trial, were removed from their cells at the Remand Yard in Arouca yesterday morning and taken to the Arouca Police Station where they were cautioned by police in relation to Seetahal’s murder.

Both relatives were informed they were being treated as suspects in Seetahal’s murder and were asked if they wished to make any official statements on the allegation, sources said.

They were also informed of their legal rights and privileges. All of this was allegedly done in the absence of the attorneys representing the two men.

After further questions were posed to both men, they were returned to the Arouca prison.

Not a single question on Dana

However, the Express was also reliably informed that Bakr, who is being kept at the Central Police Station in Port of Spain, was interrogated for over two hours by offi­cers yesterday afternoon but was not asked “a single question” about Seetahal.

“The interview started roughly about 2 p.m. and went on for about two hours before they took a break. It was during this break that Bakr asked what was going on exactly. Because he had yet to be asked a single question on whether he had any direct involvement in Seetahal’s murder or, at the very least, if he had any knowledge of an assassination attempted against the senior counsel. He wasn’t even cautioned on the matter up to that point,” a reliable source told the Express yesterday evening.

However, it was expected questions relating to the senior counsel would have been asked when investigators resumed their interrogation last night.

The Express understands when the interrogation ended, Bakr refused to sign off on it.

Bakr was also supported by a group of Jamaat members who gathered on the pavement opposite the police station yesterday morning from as early as 8 a.m. and did not disperse up to last night.

Law enforcement authorities are hoping to build a case that could point to conspiracy to murder, based on telephone recordings and other vital “scientific information” they have gathered during the course of their enquiries, sources said.