ST ANN’S – NATIONAL Security Minister Stuart Young is claiming there is a plot by certain individuals to commit random acts of shootings to destabilise Trinidad and Tobago.
He made the comment on Thursday at the post-Cabinet news conference at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s.
Young was commenting on several incidents of shooting including one in the capital city where people were killed after two men jumped out of a car and fired at pedestrians.
Making reference to a spike in murder in December last year he said, “Prior to that were a number of incidents of homicides and what appeared to be sporadic events and random shootings at persons who are not involved, as far as we are aware, in criminal activity.”
He said, “I drew to their attention that all of a sudden we were seeing shootings taking place across the east-west corridor in particular that were not gang-related and were not criminal activity-related.
“A couple late at night in a particular neighbourhood were talking to someone within their fence when a car pulled up 100 feet away and just shot randomly at them. There are a few of these types of incidents.”
Young said, “So consistently I have the national security apparatus doing the analysis, looking at things, linking things and we have some great analysis in TT, and I put down a marker. Why is it that suddenly there are these instances, of people driving along certain main roads and just being shot at?”
He added, “We then began to put certain pieces of the puzzle together.”
Young asked, “Who is it that stands to derive the most benefit from sudden spikes in the murder rate and the narrative of a murder-rate in an upward direction?”
He said, “As the Minister of National Security, I am aware that there are members, both past and present, of the UNC Opposition in TT who are interfacing with the criminal element in TT.”
Young said on December 31, 2019, an off-duty police officer stopped a carload of men firing automatic rifles at innocent people in Port-of-Spain.
