debut: 2/16/17
35,161 runs
PM reveals SSA agents armed before Cabinet approval given
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has made the startling admission that Strategic Services Agency (SSA) agents were already heavily armed even before they were given official permission to carry weapons by Cabinet. THE Prime Minister says he had been concerned for almost two years about the Strategic Services Agency (SSA), where it has been uncovered recently that certain employees had access to high-powered police guns.
We discovering now that SSA was heavily armed, well-armed before that time. These are legal problems and there are questions to be answered as to how they got those arms and whether these arms were engaged in any criminal conduct. I will not say any more of this. This is a serious matter being handled by the Government of T&T,” the Prime Minister said. Asked about the questionable operations of some at the SSA under his watch as head of the National Security Council, and whether his Minister of National Security Fitzgerald Hinds should be held accountable, the Prime Minister said he does not hire officers for the SSA.
The Prime Minister revealed that he had concerns about the SSA long before the allegations surfaced.“I had some concerns along the way. As head of the National Security Council, I had to respond to a particular development. Two people in police custody were killed and the authorities could only say they fell off a chair. There have been investigations into that and to the best of my knowledge, nothing has come of it,” he revealed. As head of the National Security Council, the Prime Minister said he enquired and “was blatantly lied to by the commissioner of police”.
“As chair of the National Security Council, I can assure you that the police do not have the equipment to do the interception that the SSA is supposed to do. The police rely on the SSA to do interceptions, and gather information, and if criminal activity is identified, SSA shares it with the police. The assumption that there is an SSA equivalent in the Police Service reporting to the Prime Minister and the Minister of National Security, is not correct.”
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has made the startling admission that Strategic Services Agency (SSA) agents were already heavily armed even before they were given official permission to carry weapons by Cabinet. THE Prime Minister says he had been concerned for almost two years about the Strategic Services Agency (SSA), where it has been uncovered recently that certain employees had access to high-powered police guns.
We discovering now that SSA was heavily armed, well-armed before that time. These are legal problems and there are questions to be answered as to how they got those arms and whether these arms were engaged in any criminal conduct. I will not say any more of this. This is a serious matter being handled by the Government of T&T,” the Prime Minister said. Asked about the questionable operations of some at the SSA under his watch as head of the National Security Council, and whether his Minister of National Security Fitzgerald Hinds should be held accountable, the Prime Minister said he does not hire officers for the SSA.
The Prime Minister revealed that he had concerns about the SSA long before the allegations surfaced.“I had some concerns along the way. As head of the National Security Council, I had to respond to a particular development. Two people in police custody were killed and the authorities could only say they fell off a chair. There have been investigations into that and to the best of my knowledge, nothing has come of it,” he revealed. As head of the National Security Council, the Prime Minister said he enquired and “was blatantly lied to by the commissioner of police”.
“As chair of the National Security Council, I can assure you that the police do not have the equipment to do the interception that the SSA is supposed to do. The police rely on the SSA to do interceptions, and gather information, and if criminal activity is identified, SSA shares it with the police. The assumption that there is an SSA equivalent in the Police Service reporting to the Prime Minister and the Minister of National Security, is not correct.”
- edited -