Minister of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs Sean Sobers is praising the effectiveness of US radar technology after it proved crucial in Thursday’s million-dollar drug seizure.
He also confirmed that a second bust was made yesterday using the same technology, emphasising that achieving two major seizures in such a short period underscores both the effectiveness of the equipment and the strength of the partnership with stakeholders.
“As a member of the government and a member of the National Security Council, we were very happy with the results yesterday with respect to the location and the raid of that over $171 million in illegal drugs. What you may or may not know, and I suspect eventually the Commissioner of Police will come out and indicate that sometime in the course of today, if it hasn’t happened already, there’s also a second drug bust that took place yesterday afternoon, also with the use of the radar technology. So we are very pleased with how those national security apparatus that are working together cohesively, both Trinidad and Tobago, the Defence Force, and with our system from the US. I think it’s a partnership that has never come to this level of fruition that we’ve been seeing within recent times.”
Minister Sobers withheld his comments on whether the newly installed radar in Tobago was used by the US to intercept the Venezuelan tanker. However, he assured that the continued partnerships between Trinidad and Tobago and the United States will see a further reduction in this country’s crime rate.
“If we go out telling everybody all our trade secrets, then not only the goodly civil citizens of Trinidad will be watching on, or will be aware, but criminals might very well be aware of what we are doing to help fight crime. The statistics demonstrate that crime reduction in the country is at an all-time low for a very long time, within the last decade-plus, and I think the way in which we intend to roll out other ventures in collaboration with the US you will see even further reductions in other elements of the crime rate in the country.”