Trinidadian held by FBI in ‘terrorist’ plot

PORT-OF-SPAIN — The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the USA has arrested and charged a Trinidadian national for alleged involvement in a terrorist plot along with a Pakistani national.

The Trinidadian, identified as Shueyb Jokhan, formerly of St Joseph in Trinidad, was arrested at his home in Hollywood last Friday morning by FBI anti-terrorism agents, according to a report in yesterday’s Guardian newspaper.

He is jointly charged with Imran Mandhai, 19, of Pakistan, alleged leader of the plot to engage in a series of bombings in South Florida.

If convicted each could face up to 20 years in jail and deportation. They are being held in a Federal Detention Centre in downtown Miami.

Jeff Shields, a reporter of the South Florida-based Sun Sentinel, is reported to have told the Guardian in a telephone interview, that according to reports, Jokhan and Mandhai were found with The Anarchist Cookbook and other “how-to-be-a-terrorist guides”.

According to the FBI, a list of demands were to be made by the alleged terrorists on the United States government and other governments around the world following the planned bombings.

The targets for destruction, as cited in the charges, included the Florida Power and Light station, and electrical transformer near Miami International Airport, electrical substations in Miami Shores and the National Guard Armoury in Hollywood.

No date has yet been fixed for the trial of Jokhan and Mandhai.

Tightened security for Caribbean ports

GEORGETOWN — Tightening of security at Caribbean ports, in a new approach to be on guard against terrorism, has been placed on the agenda of the Caribbean Shipping Association (CSA).

The CSA, currently having its mid-year Executive Council meeting in Guyana, will be co-operating with the region’s governments as well as foreign agencies toward ensuring greater security at the ports.

Guyana is among Caribbean states that suffer from smuggling of illegal drugs through their ports, resulting in new arrangements having to be in place to help customs authorities to cope with the challenge of narco-traffickers and potential terrorists.

The Deputy Commissioner of Customs in Guyana, Ingrid Griffith, said that heavy revenue losses were resulting from the smuggling trade through Georgetown and other ports of the country.

Speaking on a panel discussion as part of the Caribbean Shipping Association’s meeting, Griffith said that 75 per cent of some G$18.1 billion in revenue (G$185=US$1) which was collected last year, resulted from international trade. For 2002, the Customs Department has a projected G$20-billion revenue with G$16 billion coming from international trade.

However, in underscoring the problem of smuggling in trade, and not just narcotics, she said that there was urgent need to beef up capabilities at the ports to further supplement the joint anti-smuggling operations of the Police Force, Coast Guard of the Guyana Defence Force and the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit.

She said that corruption in the manipulation of documents in clearance of cargo, often illicit cargo in containers, was also adding to the problems the Customs authorities face.

Nation says no to arming civilians

BRIDGETOWN — The Daily Nation of Barbados has said it is not in favour of demands being made by civilians to be issued with licensed firearms to combat rising incidence of armed robberies and other crime in the country.

In its editorial yesterday, titled “Citizens’ call to be armed”, the newspaper supported positions of both the Police Commissioners of Barbados (Grantley Watson) and Trinidad and Tobago (Hilton Guy) against providing civilians with licensed firearm and ammunition because of the existing crime wave.

Trinidad and Tobago’s Minister of National Security, Howard Chin Lee, has also come out against such a demand by the country’s businessmen, faced with armed robberies and kidnappings. Chin Lee feels it could prove counter-productive in the long term to hand out licensed guns out of panic.

Demands have also been made by businessmen and others in Guyana who have fallen victims to armed bandits, with at least four known murders in the process and millions of dollars stolen in cash, jewellery and other properties.

In its editorial, the Nation argued that it is because a number of the guns in private hands are often the cause of “much grief and pain, having ended up at the centre of deadly violence that had nothing to do with would-be robbers”.

Urging, however, that a “second look” must be taken at the gun laws, considering the tragedies that occur in countries with liberal gun laws (for example, the USA), the newspaper suggested:

“The authorities always have to consider what is the overall effect of arming citizens even when citizens are tempted to believe that the only way to fight fire is with fire. What can add to the problem,” it said, “is when normally law-abiding citizens, having been refused a legal gun licence, decide to seek out illegal ways of arming themselves….”

The newspaper feels that one way of countering people’s desire to seek guns for their own protection may be for the law enforcement agencies to “go about their tasks in a way that builds confidence in their ability to protect citizens from the criminal-minded”.