Jamaat al Muslimeen leader Imam Yasin Abu Bakr (left) is escorted to the Port of Spain Magistrate's Court yesterday.

TRINIDADIAN authorities yesterday took possession of the Jamaat-al-Muslimeen's operational base on Mucurapo Road in Port of Spain, following the seizure of weapons and ammunition on the compound.

The raid on the property reportedly produced a hand grenade, one sniper-rifle with a telescope, four magazines, and more than 500 rounds of ammunition.

A ceremonial sword, said to have been a gift to Abu Bakr by Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, was also seized. Police also detained as many as 10 people before releasing most of them, authorities said.

Yasin Abu Bakr, 64, the Jamaat-al-Muslimeen leader, was charged Wednesday with sedition and violent incitement, having called last week for war against all rich muslims, who failed to pay zakaat - an Islamic tithe used to alleviate poverty.

A member of the Jamaat al Muslimeen cries as a building on the compund is destroyed. (Photos: Trinidad Express)

He was arrested Monday and faced court yesterday on four charges, but was denied bail.

The army and police will remain at the property "for a limited time" until the security forces are satisfied that there are no more weapons on the compound, Police Commissioner Trevor Paul told the Trinidad Express last night after a press conference detailing the operation.

Another senior police officer said, subsequently, that a cache of hand grenades was discovered and a metal detector had picked up sounds in one of the offices on the compound.
The combined Police Task Force, Special Anti-Crime Unit, and the First Battalion operation began at 4:30 am yesterday, and culminated at 2:25 pm, when the police bulldozed an office at the Jamaat-al-Muslimeen headquarters, dug a hole on the site and swept it with a metal detector.

Searches were also carried out at Jamaat-linked mosques in Chaguanas,Laventille and Palo Seco, and at Abu Bakr's homes at Diego Martin and Queen's Park East were also reportedly searched.

A backhoe breaks down a building on the Jamaat al Muslimeen compound in Mucurapo, Trinidad yesterday, following a raid by the police. (Photo: Trinidad Express)

The operation caught the Jamaat population off guard.
Those on the property when the operation began were prevented from leaving.

At 8:55 am, as the search continued, two of Bakr's four wives - Fatima and Indrani Abu Bakr - arrived at the compound, but were advised against entering the school on the compound by the school's secretary who called out to her "sisters" that she was told by the police that she would have to go with them to the police station.

Later Anisa Abu Bakr joined the group, standing with other women to pray.

As the bulldozers tore down the building later in the day, several muslim women cried openly, and one man threw himself on the ground crying out at the "injustice" of the action.

In 1990, Abu Bakr's group bombed police headquarters, stormed Parliament and took the prime minister and his Cabinet hostage in a rebellion that left 24 people dead in Trinidad. The rebels eventually surrendered and were later pardoned.

- With additional reporting by AP

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