Worse than the days of Poolool Brothers
HEADLESS bodies thrown into watercourses, cold-blooded killings, shootouts, daylight home invasions, assaults, car-jacking – and more!
That is a snapshot of the crime binge taking place at the previously peaceful communities of St. Helena, Kelly Village, Cunupia, and other Caroni districts.
The spate of gory crimes has made these villages “a dumping ground for murder victims,” said an aggrieved Caroni East Member of Parliament Dr. Rishad Seecheran.
“Killings have become as commonplace as flooding from the Caroni River,” MP Seecheran fumed.
Police sources confirmed that some of the murders are drug-related and that certain underworld elements have turned the villages into havens for their illegal activities.
One police source said: “These areas have become criminal hot spots.”
Some senior citizens are likening the flurry of crimes to the terror the dreaded Poolool Brothers, Rafick and Joe, inflicted upon Caroni and other parts of the country during the 1960s.
The Poolools, who were based in a community called Harlem, were said to be brutal toward anyone who came into their path, and generally created turmoil in the quiet districts.
They reportedly shot at the Caroni Police Station as a bold indication that they were not afraid of law enforcement officers.
“I wasn’t around during the time of the Poolools,” a St. Helena resident said, “but I heard the stories and I feel things are worse than at that time because the killings are non-stop.”
In recent months, decapitated bodies have been found, and there have been gun exchanges in public places, along with stabbings, muggings and various personal attacks.
Maxi and taxi drivers, and their passengers, have been assaulted and robbed.
Residents of St. Helena say noisy drug parties are now a part of their daily existence.
During the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020, some 225 people were arrested at a “zesser” party at Kelly Village.
There has generally been an upsurge in crime in Central Trinidad, with police officials confessing sometime ago that the area had become the country’s “murder capital.”
There have been heinous killings or corpses being dumped in various Central districts, especially far-flung communities.
A nine-year-old boy was shot and killed at a recreation ground at Enterprise Village, three months ago.
In December, two murdered bodies were found at Rivulet Road, Couva.
Business people say a number of hold-ups have not been reported to the police.
“There is little value in making a report,” a Chaguanas retailer said, “because it does not result in arrests or in a decrease in the crime rate.”
After the daylight robbery of Local Government Councillor Ramchand Rajbal-Maraj in December, there were increased demands for heightened police action.
“There is a lack of political will to deal with (crime),” Jai Leladharsingh, Coordinator of the Confederation of Regional Chambers, said.
Leladharsingh added: “The army should immediately begin joint patrols in all communities and the Government should use digital cameras with facial recognition software and global positioning software.”
MP Seecheran has called for the provision of a police post, CCTV cameras, more patrols, increased intelligence-gathering and other relevant resources.
He said that National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds “has only offered explanations, excuses and guarantees.
“Still, the homicides take place.”
After an attack on devotees at a Hindu temple, Couva South MP Rudy Indarsingh lamented the crime scourge, and criticised “the inaction and seeming unwillingness” of Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley to protect residents of Central Trinidad.
Indarsingh said he was “exhausted at having to beg the Government to attend to the safety of my constituents.”
The matter of the appalling incidence of crime in Caroni and surrounding areas has been raised on several occasions in Parliament.
