Death stalks Trinidad and Tobago again

There has been another gruesome murder of a foreigner in the Bacolet Point area. This time near to where the Greenes were attacked and chopped in their home two months ago.

At the recent Blue Food Festival Chief Secretary Orville London in an interview took issue with what he termed the sensationalization of news reporting on crime in Tobago. While we cannot condone any attempt to cause sensation by reporting crime or any other activity in Tobago, surely, we do believe that the truth must be told. If the truth is not told then we will be indulging in the proverbial “burying our heads in the sand.”

“Clean, green, safe and serene,” is the mantra being trumpeted by the THA in promoting Tobago as a tourism destination. These projections would have been apt for Tobago some years ago, but Oh how times have changed. Without a doubt, there are criminals stalking our island. Added to the increasing murder toll in Tobago, there are numerous incidents of criminal assaults, robberies and the breaking of homes and businesses taking place on the island.

What we as Tobagonians must come to terms with is that there is a lucrative drug trade here in Tobago. The open evidence of cocaine blocks in the center of Scarborough and in other parts of the island continues under the “watchful eyes” of the authorities. Drugs and drug money fuels crime and violence and once this scourge continues to strive on our island there will be no improvement in the crime situation.

Again, we must identify the facts of hardened criminals from Trinidad who are using Tobago as a cooling-off sanctuary. These men will not remain idle while in Tobago. Where is the intelligence arm of our security services in terms of identifying such criminal elements and closely monitoring them?
We therefore wish to defer with Mr. London on this issue since gruesome incidents like this must be told.