National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds has stressed that he played no part in the matter involving firearms dealer Brent Thomas.
In fact, Hinds said he was not involved “in any form or fashion” in approving officers from the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force to participate in the Brent Thomas “operation”.
Hinds was asked in parliament yesterday to indicate whether he had approved officers of the T&T Defence Force’s participation in this operation which took place in Barbados last October.
He said, “As it pertains to the ‘Brent Thomas Ruling’, as Minister of National Security, I was not involved in any form or fashion in the approval of officers from the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force for participation in the said operation. In this regard, the question does not arise.”
Thomas was in transit to Miami in Barbados last October when he was detained by members of the Barbados Police Service before being handed over the members of the T&T Police Service.
The opposition’s Rodney Charles and Saddam Hosein, asked him about the issue of permission for the military plane and other aspects, but Hinds maintained his reply, saying they were being “pedestrian.”
Thomas recently won a civil judgment in the matter, with the judge ruling the situation an “abduction.” Barbados Attorney General Dale Marshall has, however, denied this label, saying the Barbados police were merely assisting T&T police in the matter.