Published: 3 April 2017

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Monday April 3, 2017 – The United Nations (UN) has its eye on the crime situation in Barbados, and has issued a security advisory to its staff in the island following a string of recent robberies.

The UN’s Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS) has advised personnel to increase their vigilance following “credible reports that a number of recent robberies are believed to be committed by a group of five armed men”.

It is believed the men are travelling in one vehicle and targeting both businesses and individuals. They attempt to trick victims into stopping or exiting their vehicles by driving behind them and flicking their headlights.

“All UN personnel and family members are reminded to always lock your car doors, keep your windows up, only pull over in well-lit populated areas, and to remain aware of your surroundings at all times. Avoid driving alone at night,” the UNDSS advisory added.

It offered UN employees further advice on how to deal with any such encounter.

“If you detect that you are being watched or followed do not panic and drive to your nearest ‘safe haven’ (UN office, police station…). Try to collect as much information on any suspect vehicle such as make, colour, licence plate, identifying marks, description of occupants, etc. If someone tries to bump your car, honk the horn, put on hazard lights and continue driving quickly,” the UNDSS urged staff.

“If you are hit from behind and have to stop, do not get out of the vehicle or unlock it until you have called the police. Check the mirrors to observe the situation and if you see something suspicious like a pair or group of men descending all at the same time, try to rush to a ‘safe haven’. If you have a driver, instruct him accordingly. It is illegal to leave the spot of an accident but safer to go away straight to the closest police station. The CSFP [Common Foreign and Security Policy] and UNDSS will assist you with the police if necessary.”

Last month, the Royal Barbados Police Force confirmed that it was investigating several crimes which may have been committed by a group of five men travelling in a vehicle.

Read more: http://www.caribbean360.com/news/united-nations-warns-staff-barbados-crime#ixzz4dCkcFLZY

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Published: 3 April 2017

Warrant Officer Omar Samaroo was found slumped in a dormitory at Camp Cumuto, Wallerfield with a gunshot wound to the head. (Photo. Trinidad Express)

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Monday April 3, 2017 – Questions are being raised and a call for an investigation has been made along with a threat of legal action, following the death of a Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force (TTDF) soldier.

Warrant Officer Omar Samaroo, 47, was found slumped in a dormitory at Camp Cumuto, Wallerfield with a gunshot wound to the head last Tuesday, and died hours later at hospital.

His death was ruled a suicide. But some people aren’t so sure that’s what it was, and Opposition Senator Wayne Sturge says he intends to take legal action if the TTDF does not investigate the circumstances surrounding Samaroo’s death.

In a letter to Chief of Defence Staff Brigadier General Rodney Smart and copied to Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi and National Security Minister Edmund Dillon, Sturge said Samaroo’s death was suspicious, based on his injuries – which he claimed included broken ribs – and how he was found.

He said the public and Samaroo’s family had a right to know whether there was any wrongdoing in his death.

“There should be an effective official investigation when individuals such as officer Samaroo have lost their lives in suspicious circumstances while on duty as a servant and or agent of the State. This officer lost his life while on duty at an army base under your command,” Sturge’s letter to Brigadier General Smart stated, adding that the matter was of “great public importance” that the requires “expeditious action” on the part of the State.

“Should there be no action on the part of the Defense Force and the State in this matter I hereby formally give notice that I shall be challenging the failure of the State to initiate a proper investigation in accordance with my request herein in the High Court in the public interest. I wish to emphasize that the request for the investigation into the death of this officer is not one which ought to be triggered by anyone but one which should have been commenced forthwith by the State in the fulfillment of it substantive and procedural constitutional obligation to the deceased officer.”

However, the TTDF has called on Sturge and other members of the public to desist from making “false and unsubstantiated remarks” about Samaroo’s tragic massing and allow his friends and family members to grieve in peace.

The Defence Force said it “vigorously denounces the flow of misinformation being purported by some conspiracy theorists, in particular by certain ‘responsible’ individuals in society”.

The TTDF also dismissed claims that Samaroo’s body was bruised and that three of his ribs were broken. It said an autopsy confirmed that the soldier, who was a member of the Defence Force for 27 years, died as a result of a single gunshot wound to the head and there were no other marks of violence on his body.

Read more: http://www.caribbean360.com/news/cloud-suspicion-hangs-death-trinidad-soldier#ixzz4dCjwVbhp

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