Trinidad uses drone technology to arrest 20

(Trinidad Express) The Special Operations Response Unit (SORT) used drone technology in the arrest of 20 persons and the seizure of firearms and quantities of ammunition and narcotics and a police jacket in the Southern Division.

The exercise, conducted in the La Romaine district, yesterday also included officers of the Southern Division and Central Division Task Forces and the Canine branch.

Uzi submachine gun, three pistols, 74 rounds of 9mm ammunition, three kilogrammes of marijuana, eight grammes of cocaine and one blue police operations jacket with police patches being discovered.

Of those held, 11 are expected to be charged with possession of firearms and possession of narcotics. (Trinidad Guardian) The European Union has provided funding to the T&T Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (TTEITI) and the T&T Transparency Institute (TTTI) to implement a 12-month national public awareness and sensitization campaign on Beneficial Ownership Disclosure (BOD). The campaign is to assist T&T to better comply with its international obligations related to secret company ownership disclosure and the disclosure by public officials of their holdings in the oil, gas and mining sectors. The campaign also aims to deter tax evasion, white-collar crime and terrorist financing. More than $500,000 has been provided from the EU’s Civil Society Organizations and Local Authorities (CSO/LA) thematic budget line.

The project, Lifting the Veil on Secret Company Ownership: A Public Sensitization Campaign on Beneficial Ownership Disclosure is the first of its kind in T&T. It will use a mix of activities to sensitize various sectors of the population—government leaders, legislators, law enforcement, the business sectors, civil society and the public in general—about the need for the establishment of proper laws related to disclosure and about the benefit of such laws in the fight against corruption in the extractive sectors (oil, gas and mining). EU Ambassador to T&T Aad Biesebroek said: “Our support to this campaign is in keeping with the EU’s overall goal to promote sustainable development, democracy and the rule of law through good governance, accountability and fairness in all business practices. This campaign that is initiated and implemented by the TTEITI and TTTI will increase the awareness and the active involvement of all stakeholders in promoting transparency about the use of resources and financial transactions.”