(Trinidad Newsday) The day after he was killed in a shootout with police, Akanni “Dole” Adams was scheduled to meet with his attorney to discuss taking legal action against the State for what he considered harassment.
Adams, according to ACP Jayson Forde, was killed when police went to arrest him in connection with stealing six boats and throwing seven fishermen overboard, resulting in the deaths of four so far. Forde said when the police approached Adams, 26, he started shooting at them and they shot back, wounding Adams, who died in hospital.
In a statement yesterday, police confirmed Adams was a “person of interest” in the disappearance of the fishermen in the Gulf of Paria on Monday.
According to the release, “He (Dole) was among several others being sought for questioning in this matter. The police investigation is still ongoing at this time.”
However, in a Newsday article yesterday, Adam’s mother said her son suspected who the real perpetrators were and tried to find them to hand them over to the authorities.
Asked about the shooting of another man identified only as “Bulls,” Forde said he had no information about that.
He could not say what type of gun was recovered from Adams.
On Monday, Adams, a fisherman from Pioneer Drive, Sea Lots and businessman Cedric “Burkie” Burke, also of Production Avenue, were released from custody after being arrested the day before.
After Adams’ killing, police had to quell an uprising by residents and arrested 20. They are being held at the Besson Street station.
Sunday Newsday spoke with Adams’s attorney Richard Clarke-Wills, who said Adams made an appointment to meet him on Friday.
He added that his deceased client was also to appear in court on Friday, charged with using annoying language. That matter was adjourned so that the prosecution could produce the death certificate. Clarke-Wills said, from memory his client had two convictions – one for possession of marijuana and one for failing to produce his driver’s permit.
After the fatal shooting police spent hours in the Sea Lots community and seized nearly $500,000 in narcotics. Officers from the Port of Spain Division said, during a joint operation with the Coast Guard, Inter-Agency Task Force, Besson Street police and the Canine Branch, they found six kilograms of marijuana, one kilogramme of cocaine, a Mossberg pump-action shotgun, 278 rounds of ammunition and a bulletproof vest. The drugs have an estimated street value of $460,000.
