Mia rejects kidnapping of T&T businessman

“To describe it as a kidnapping is a most unfortunate term because arrest warrants were presented by the Trinidad police to the Barbados police. As to what happened, we don’t know because we don’t get involved in operational matters. So, as it transpired, we, in fact, knew nothing about it. It is only when this matter became a public issue that we then had to launch an investigation into what transpired, and it was clear that the Trinidad and Tobago police, as has been the practice for decades in this region, would have supplied an arrest warrant, which the Barbados police would have acted upon.”

She added, "But to describe it as kidnapping or to suggest that any member of the Cabinet or any member of the permanent secretary class or the government of Barbados is involved in kidnapping is a scurrilous lie and defamatory in the extreme. We all know what transpired, and it is regrettable that it happened.” However, Mottley said the longstanding informal practice of executing arrest warrants between Caribbean states underscored the need for legislative reform. “We understood at the time, and we said, our attorney general said at the time, that the formal process of extradition, which we do extra-regionally with other countries, has not and was not practiced in the region among ourselves by any country in the region. And therefore, to that extent, we acknowledge that we need to be able to change how we operate,” Mottley said.

“That is why the Caricom arrest warrant is being pursued. That is why legislation has to be passed in every Caricom country to be able to facilitate that Caricom arrest warrant. We also have, for example, as I said, the ministerial statements to parliament from both the former attorney general in 2023 and the former attorney general of Trinidad and Tobago.” The Caricom Arrest Warrant Treaty came into force at the regional level in 2018 after sufficient ratifications. However, it only becomes legally enforceable within a member state once domestic legislation is passed. Contacted for comment last night, PM Persad-Bissessar did not take offence to Mottley’s claims, saying the Barbados PM “simply explained her position from her government’s side in a clear and cogent manner.” “She (Mottley) repeated what her former AG Dale Marshall said in their parliament in 2023 regarding the Brent Thomas case. I don’t see anything wrong with that,” Persad-Bissessar said.“Sure, she did an interview and gave her views in a pleasant manner. I don’t see any issue.”

Brent Thomas closer to settlement for Bajan arrest fallout  by Barbados Today 

“I also refer to the High Court judgment of Justice Rampersad delivered on April 25, 2023, in which the Honourable Court declared that all search warrants executed against Mr. Thomas and his company were unconstitutional, unlawful, arbitrary, unnecessary, and disproportionate,” he wrote. The attorney general further recalled that the court found that the arrest, detention, and forcible removal of Thomas from Barbados constituted a gross abuse that was unconstitutional, unlawful, and contrary to the rule of law. The court also held that the criminal proceedings brought against the businessman amounted to an abuse of process and a breach of his constitutional rights.

Thomas, who was arrested by armed Barbadian police at his hotel room on October 5, 2022, was detained before being taken to Grantley Adams International Airport, where he was handed over to two Trinidad and Tobago Police Service officers. He was then taken to Trinidad on an aircraft linked to the Regional Security Services and later faced seven firearm-related charges, including alleged possession of illegal firearms and explosives.

The judge granted Thomas a permanent stay of all criminal proceedings against him and awarded constitutional damages for the violations of his fundamental rights.

Barbados government's position on Brent Thomas affair: 'IT WAS NO ABDUCTION'

The Barbadian Attorney General says gun dealer Brent Thomas was not 'abducted' from Barbados last year, but he admits the officers had 'fallen short of the law' during an operation where Thomas was arrested and returned to Trinidad. In a statement in the Barbadian Parliament yesterday, AG Dale Marshall detailed the involvement of the Barbados Police Service in Thomas' case but rejected the ruling of a TT High Court judge finding that Thomas was 'abducted.' Marshall said he recognizes the officers had "fallen short" of the law by acting without an extradition request. "I, however, cannot associate myself with the description of the actions of the Barbados police officers as an abduction or, as has been elsewhere described, as a kidnapping."

Yesterday, as he documented the police action that saw Thomas taken from his Barbadian hotel room to the Grantley Adams International Airport, Marshall denied any knowledge of the incident before last week. He said Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley also did not know about the incident. "Neither of us was consulted by anyone prior to or at the time when Mr. Thomas was taken from Barbados in October of 2022. The first time that either of us became aware of any of the events relating to Mr. Thomas was after the matter broke in the press in Trinidad just over a week ago. We simply had no knowledge nor involvement in this matter."

However, in Thomas' affidavits in the High Court, he said he provided a copy of an e-mail to the TTPS' Legal Unit, informing them that he would be travelling to seek medical attention overseas. "The Barbados Police Service was initially requested to establish the whereabouts of Mr. Thomas in Barbados and to keep him under surveillance. Before taking any steps to render the requested assistance, the matter was discussed with the Acting Commissioner of Police, who gave certain advice and instructions."

Thomas's affidavit,

In his affidavit, Thomas said he was asleep around 3am when he heard banging on his hotel room door and shouts of "police, police." He said he opened the door and saw a group of men dressed in black.

"These men entered into my room. They asked for a copy of my identification card and luggage, which I showed to them. Thereafter, without being shown a warrant or being given any opportunity to make a representation, despite numerous requests to do so, I was placed in handcuffs and dragged across the hotel floor to a waiting police vehicle, which conveyed me to a police station," Thomas said in his affidavit.

Thomas said he was kept in a cage in the back of a police van outside a police station until midday, when he was taken to another police station and locked in a cell until 5 pm before being taken to the airport. The State did not challenge Thomas' account and conceded that his arrest in Barbados was illegal.

Note: This CARICOM citizen had a heart problem and had approved travel documentation to see his doctor in the USA. So he was kept in a cage in the back of a police van outside a police station until midday in the hot sun.

Rowley and Mia...

During a press conference yesterday after returning from a weekend vacation in Barbados, Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley said he met with Mottley while on the island. My understanding is that she is in the same position I am in, and we wait for what our departments come up with.

If there are operational issues to be dealt with, we will deal with them. It is an evolving situation, and we will see what comes up," Rowley said.

Note: So you arrest someone at 3 am with a heart problem and keep him in a caged van till midday, allegedly without a warrant. T&T Police and Barbados Police. Both islands' PMs are clueless, as are their attorneys general? HOW CAN SUCH OCCUR?

Amazing cabinet members and leadership. 😡

Thomas is suing both islands for millions of taxpayers' dollars.

“However, as much as the T&T Prime Minister voices her concern in relation to the deafening silence by Caricom over this fiasco, closure and accountability will never be revealed or take place via other regional bodies, inclusive of the Barbados Government, the Police Service in Barbados, or the Caricom Secretary General, as this would lead to utter embarrassment that no country wants revealed to the world.”