(Trinidad Guardian) Rogue police officers who may have been involved in a plot to “bring down” Police Commissioner Gary Griffith will be under scrutiny as part of the investigation into the murder of purported gang leader Cecil ‘Squeeze’ Skeete.
At the last T&T Police Service (TTPS) media briefing for 2019, Griffith told journalists Skeete was a police informant who was willing to reveal the identities of police officers allegedly working with “elements” in the media to falsely accuse the Commissioner of choking and punching Skeete.
Griffith said before Skeete died, he asked for a recording device to tape conversations with police officers. Griffith said those officers had arranged a meeting with Skeete along the North Coast and police were planning a sting operation to catch the rogue officers in the act.
“It is very possible these individuals may also now be part of the investigation, because it seems that Mr Skeete was targeted,” Griffith told reporters at the TTPS Administration Building in Port-of-Spain yesterday.
“And again, that is why Mr Skeete had asked for the recording device. It was provided for him because he was acting as an informant and he was ready to expose everything that was being done by certain individuals in the media and in the police service.”
Skeete was killed on Sunday not far from his home in Cocorite. He was out on bail on charges of possession of arms and ammunition.
Last month, another daily newspaper reported that Skeete had claimed Griffith assaulted and threatened him. Skeete later changed his story, signing a sworn-affidavit that said Griffith never harmed him.
Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime), Jayson Forde, confirmed yesterday that police intelligence had unearthed a plan by members of the Muslim gang to kill Skeete. Skeete was purportedly a member of the rival Rasta City gang.
Forde said Skeete was told about the ‘hit’ on his life and was offered protective custody but he declined. Griffith claimed police officers were constantly meeting Skeete to orchestrate a plot to tarnish the Commissioner, and even offered him $50,000 for his co-operation. The Commissioner used a projector screen to display text messages he said were from Skeete, in which Skeete articulated his commitment to working with Griffith to bring down corrupt officers in the Western Division.
Griffith disputed the veracity of station diary reports that cite Skeete as making an official police report about the alleged attack by the Commissioner.
“Individuals who may be in the police service who have a deliberate agenda decided to write something in the station diary, that doesn’t mean the individual (Skeete) said it,” Griffith said.
