The Finance Minister is calling on the Trinidad Express newspaper to correct an article titled ‘Gun Theft at Customs’, which he says is patently erroneous.
Mr Colm Imbert says the article today stated that security systems at a transit shed “at Customs” were non-functional, allowing persons to steal items.
The article was reportedly based on comments made by the Minister in the Senate yesterday.
However, Imbert says it gave the false impression that he said there was poor security at bonded warehouses or transit sheds owned and operated by the Customs and Excise Division.
He says the article also falsely implied that the Customs and Excise Division allows weapons into the country via its bonded facilities.
Imbert says the transit sheds referred to in the Senate are owned and operated by private companies, adding that, “it is because the Customs and Excise Division discovered that security systems were non-functional packages had disappeared, and record-keeping was poor at these PRIVATE facilities, that these PRIVATE transit sheds were closed, temporarily, until their owners remedied the defects in their security systems and records.”
He adds that the temporary closures have contributed to the current congestion in the clearing of cargo at this time of the year.
He now calling on the newspaper to correct its reporting.