PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) – National Security Minister retired Major General Edmund Dillon Tuesday urged residents to remain calm as police continue their investigations into the authenticity of a recording shared in a Whatsapp group, warning of a plot to bomb several shopping malls in the country.

In a statement, Dillon said that he is telling citizens “not be guided by rumours and remain calm and vigilant and report any suspicious activity”.

He has given an assurance that this country’s intelligence agencies “are working to authenticate the origin of such threats and findings will be generated in a timely and accurate manner”.

In the first recording directed to a WhatsApp group, the man uses the word “batch” which is commonly used by soldiers, and makes reference of information he says came out of the camp he is in.

He goes on to refer to the camp as being close to where the Special Anti-Crime Unit of T&T (SUATT) operated and that the word reaching the camp is that ISIS is planning to detonate bombs in the malls sometime between Thursday and Sunday

The person is informing relatives to stay away from the malls.

Police say they are in possession of the recordings and are seeking to determine whether they are authentic or a hoax.

Dillon also condemned the murder of two law enforcement officers who were shot on Tuesday.

He warned that that criminal attacks will not be tolerated “against the protectors of this country’s laws and Constitution, and will do all that needs to be done” and will continue to “lead the fight to annihilate the menace to society”.

Police said that police constable Jason John, who was assigned to the Court and Process Division of the Port of Spain magistrates’ Court,  was killed by a gunman with a sub-machine gun, as he spoke with his wife on a telephone near his home in Arouca, east of here.

In the other incident, Corporal Jerry Leacock of the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force (TTDF) was shot in the chest after he confronted four men who broke into his home at Wallerfield in Arima, east of here, early Tuesday morning.

The gunmen later escaped in the soldier’s vehicle.

So far more than 160 people have been killed this year.

Dillon said that law enforcement agencies must do what is required within the law and focus their crime fighting efforts on ridding Trinidad and Tobago of the scourge of a few deadly criminal elements bent on destroying this country and depriving the many of their right to safety and security.

On Tuesday he summoned all Operational Heads from the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force (TTDF), the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) and the intelligence agencies to an emergency operations meeting “to reinforce the execution of the Ministry of National Security’s crime fighting strategies…that focuses on deterrence, detection and prosecution”.