标签： Trinidad and Tobago

On the second day of a voluntary work stoppage labeled a ‘rest and reflection’ action by maxi-taxi operators across Trinidad and Tobago, multiple state security and transport agencies mobilized expanded emergency services Tuesday to mitigate widespread morning commute disruptions for the traveling public. Led by the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS), the coordinated response added new participating partners to the effort launched the previous day, growing available vehicle capacity by nearly 200% to meet unmet passenger demand.

When the work stoppage left thousands of regular commuters without access to their usual transit, TTPS reached out to cross-sector state agencies to assemble an emergency fleet. In total, 15 operational vehicles were made available Tuesday, 10 more than the five deployed during the first day of disruptions Monday. Breaking down the fleet composition, Assistant Commissioner of Police Brian Soodeen confirmed TTPS contributed five 25-seater buses, the Trinidad and Tobago Fire Service added two 15-seater buses, the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM) provided one 25-seater vehicle, and the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force (TTDF) supported the effort with four 25-seater vehicles and three 15-seater maxi-taxis. The Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC) also joined the coordination hub based at Port of Spain’s City Gate transportation terminal.

TTPS Commissioner Allister Guevarro emphasized that the entire cross-agency initiative was rooted in a core commitment to public safety, pushing back against claims from maxi-taxi association representatives that the operation amounted to strike-breaking. Rejecting assertions that the emergency response counted as substitute scab labor, Guevarro framed the effort as a standard public service intervention to address a critical community need. ‘This is the TTPS and other law enforcement agencies reaching out in its capacity to treat with a problem that has arisen,’ he said, noting that the expanded partnership between agencies had delivered a nearly 200% jump in available passenger capacity from Monday’s initial deployment.

Addressing longstanding security concerns raised by the maxi-taxi association, Guevarro acknowledged that law enforcement cannot be omnipresent, and appealed to the public to proactively share information on criminal activity to support policing efforts, as placing an officer in every maxi-taxi is not logistically feasible. He added that commuters displayed orderly, cooperative behavior during the first day of the emergency service, with no instances of disruption or misconduct reported. As of Tuesday, Guevarro also confirmed that a number of maxi-taxi operators had already resumed their regular routes.

PTSC General Manager (Retired Lieutenant Colonel) Patrick Gomez dismissed suggestions that the emergency deployment was a publicity stunt, explaining that vehicles were dynamically dispatched to high-demand routes, with trips merged where capacity allowed to maximize efficiency. Gomez confirmed the initiative was launched after Guevarro formally requested PTSC support, adding that public feedback on the expanded Tuesday service was overwhelmingly positive.

Transport and Civil Aviation Minister Eli Zakour, who was on-site to observe the coordinated response, confirmed that state agencies were aligned in their priority of getting commuters to their destinations safely. Zakour declined to share detailed remarks on a Monday closed-door meeting between government representatives and the maxi-taxi association, but described the discussion as cordial. He echoed Guevarro’s observation that some operators had chosen to return to work Tuesday, noting that the choice to resume service remained a personal decision for individual drivers and that it was too early to link the return to Monday’s talks. Government will continue monitoring operator turnout before deciding on next steps, Zakour added, and reaffirmed that a previously announced checkered-band regulation framework for maxi-taxis, already outlined to Parliament, remains in development.

A shocking double murder has rattled the quiet community of Penal in south Trinidad, prompting an urgent manhunt and a major internal probe after investigators made an unexpected discovery: police-issued ammunition at the scene of a gang-style shooting. The violence unfolded shortly after 8 p.m. on Sunday, when local residents reported hearing a rapid barrage of gunfire erupt from a residential property along Rock Road.

Initial witness accounts paint a chilling picture of the attack. One man who was at the home watching football with the two victims told investigators that 23-year-old Jahrael Akeel Tafari Hunte, a local resident of Penal’s Syne Village, had stepped outside to answer a call from his wife just moments before the gunmen struck. Minutes after Hunte left the room, the witness looked outside and spotted three unidentified masked men armed with firearms loitering near the property’s front gate. Before he could raise an alarm, a hail of gunshots rang out, forcing the witness to flee the home for his own safety.

Once the gunfire stopped and the attackers had fled, the witness returned to the property to find Hunte and 45-year-old Randolph Felix, a Rock Road resident, lying unresponsive on the ground, both having sustained multiple gunshot wounds. A third man at the scene survived the attack but suffered a gunshot wound to his left lower leg, along with cuts and abrasions to his chest and wrist. He was rushed to a nearby medical facility for treatment and remains in stable care under observation as of the latest updates.

Responding officers from the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) immediately cordoned off the area and called in specialist crime scene investigators from the Region Three Homicide Bureau to process the site. Over the course of their examination, investigators recovered a large cache of ballistic evidence: 21 spent shell casings, four broken metal fragments, and three live, unfired rounds of ammunition. What made this discovery unusual, however, was that one 9mm spent casing and one 9mm live round recovered at the scene bore official TTPS markings, confirming they had been issued to police service personnel. All other ammunition recovered carried commercial manufacturing markings from third-party arms producers.

This brazen double killing is not an isolated incident in the region. The attack capped off a staggering 13-hour wave of violence that left six people dead across south Trinidad. Earlier the same morning, three men were shot dead in a separate shooting incident in Corinth, Ste Madeleine, adding to the growing tally of violent deaths in the area.

Investigators now face two parallel lines of inquiry: first, to identify and apprehend the three armed attackers responsible for the shooting, and second, to determine how police-issued ammunition ended up in the hands of the gunmen. Authorities have not yet ruled out any potential connections between serving or former police officers and the attack, and the TTPS has confirmed it will conduct a full review of all issued ammunition stockpiles as part of the ongoing probe.

A dramatic late-night rescue operation carried out by Trinidadian law enforcement has resulted in the safe recovery of a 21-year-old Diego Martin resident, who was allegedly abducted by a former romantic partner earlier this week. The 22-year-old suspect, a construction labourer based in El Dorado’s Caura Road area, was taken into custody immediately following the successful interception, according to official police reports.

The chain of events unfolded shortly after 7 p.m. on Monday, when the suspect arrived at the victim’s Diego Martin home. The woman, who works as a food vendor, became embroiled in a verbal altercation with the man before he used force to drag her into his blue Toyota Axio sedan and fled the scene, police accounts confirm.

A tip that set the rescue operation in motion came roughly an hour after the abduction, when a Diego Martin-based Traffic Warden contacted the Maracas Bay Police Station to report the kidnapping. Critically, the informant was able to provide real-time location data from a GPS tracking system linked to the suspect’s vehicle, which confirmed the car was moving north along the popular North Coast Road corridor near Maracas Bay.

Law enforcement teams from both the Maracas Bay and Blanchisseuse police detachments were quickly dispatched to launch a search along the route. It did not take long for officers to locate the suspect’s parked vehicle, which was pulled off the road approximately one mile north of St Michael’s Village in the Las Cuevas area. When responding officers arrived on scene, the suspect was standing outside the vehicle’s driver-side door, while the victim remained in the front passenger seat.

Preliminary investigative notes indicate the victim had sustained visible injuries to both of her knees, with clear signs of blood at the scene. As soon as the victim spotted the approaching officers, she fled the vehicle toward the team, screaming repeated pleas for help. Officers quickly secured the victim and placed the suspect under arrest without incident.

Both the victim and the accused were first transported to the Maracas Bay Police Station for processing, before the case was formally handed over to detectives from the West End Criminal Investigations Department for further investigation into the incident.

A grim discovery early Monday morning in the Trinidadian neighborhood of Morvant has launched an active homicide investigation, after authorities confirmed the body found in a public area belongs to 23-year-old Venezuelan national Enrique Pineda.

Local law enforcement confirmed that the first report of an unresponsive body reached emergency services shortly before 6 a.m., with callers directing officers to the intersection of First Caledonia and Tractor Hill. First responders arriving on scene encountered Pineda’s remains on open ground, partially concealed by a bedsheet soaked in blood. Preliminary observations from responding officers confirmed the victim had sustained extensive, severe trauma consistent with foul play.

Unlike many anonymous homicide discoveries, investigators were able to quickly identify the victim thanks to personal items recovered a short distance from the body. Among the evidence collected at the site were official identification documents, an undisclosed amount of cash, a wristwatch, and assorted pieces of jewelry, all of which helped confirm Pineda’s identity within hours of the discovery.

The sequence of events that led to the find began when a crew of local sanitation workers was passing through the intersection as part of their morning route. The workers spotted the unusual covered form and immediately alerted residents living nearby, who placed the initial call to police to report the suspicious scene.

By mid-morning, specialized crime scene investigators and detectives from the Homicide Bureau of Investigations had secured the area and launched a full evidence sweep. The team spent multiple hours documenting the scene, collecting forensic samples, and interviewing nearby residents and witnesses who may have seen unusual activity in the area overnight.

To formalize what caused Pineda’s death, a full post-mortem examination has been scheduled for later this week at the Forensic Science Centre located in Federation Park. The autopsy results will allow investigators to confirm the exact cause and manner of death, a key step in building a case against any responsible parties.

As the investigation continues to unfold, local police have issued a public appeal for information. Any person who was in the First Caledonia and Tractor Hill area overnight Sunday into Monday morning, or who has any details about Pineda’s activities before his death, is urged to contact investigating officers to assist with the case.

Early Tuesday, the official Facebook account of ASJA Boys College, located in San Fernando, shared devastating news with its school community: Fariza Mohammed, a decades-long English teacher at the institution, had passed away.

In a heartfelt public statement posted to the platform, the college administration mourned the loss of the educator, who held the position of Teacher III in the English department. Affectionately known to generations of students as “Miss Fariza”, Mohammed was remembered as an extraordinarily dedicated educator who consistently prioritized her students’ health, growth and success, often placing their needs above her own.

Mohammed first joined the ASJA Boys College teaching team back in 2002, kicking off a 21-year career that left an indelible, positive mark on the lives of hundreds of young people. The college’s statement noted that her sudden departure has created an enormous, unfillable gap within the school community. “Our deepest condolences go out to her family in this very difficult time. May Allah SWT grant them ease, strength and comfort,” the post concluded.

Word of Mohammed’s passing quickly spread beyond the college’s walls, prompting an outpouring of love and tribute from current and alumni students across social media. Many former learners shared personal stories of how Mohammed supported them through difficult periods, offering guidance that helped them overcome struggles both in their academic work and their personal lives outside of school.

Within the school, Mohammed was widely regarded as a deeply cherished member of the institution. She earned a reputation for striking a thoughtful balance: she was able to build warm, trusting connections with her students while upholding rigorous standards for academic performance and personal discipline.

Her fellow faculty members also remembered her warmly, describing Mohammed as a compassionate colleague, a dependable team member, and someone whose entire career was rooted in a deep, abiding commitment to lifting up her students.

In an early morning break-in at St Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in Mucurapo, armed robbers stole centuries-honored sacred religious artifacts, leaving the local parish community reeling and calling for collective prayer for their long-serving priest and congregation. The shocking incident unfolded before dawn yesterday, when intruders forced entry into the church and targeted items central to Catholic worship, according to details shared with parish members this week.\n\nThe stolen item at the center of the loss is the church’s monstrance, a ornate sacred vessel that holds deep liturgical significance in the Roman Catholic tradition. The vessel is specifically used to display the consecrated Eucharist during public adoration and ceremonial benediction, making its theft not just a property loss but a spiritual blow to the parish. In addition to taking the monstrance, the bandits also attempted to remove the church’s tabernacle — the locked, sacred compartment positioned near the altar that houses the reserved Blessed Sacrament. Law enforcement and parish sources confirm the intruders managed to shift the heavy tabernacle before making their escape with the monstrance.\n\nIn a surprising turn of events, the parish’s beloved priest, Fr Emmanuel “Mannie” Pierre, encountered one of the intruders during the break-in. The intruder fled the scene immediately after the confrontation, leaving Fr Pierre uninjured — a outcome that has brought widespread relief to the church’s parishioners. Investigators have already received key evidence from the parish, including a vehicle registration number linked to the suspects, which has been passed along to law enforcement teams working the case.\n\n“We are grateful that Father was not hurt, but it is heartbreaking that these sacred items were taken,” one parish member shared in a statement calling for intercessory prayer. “Please pray for Father Mannie and the parish of St Mary’s, Mucurapo.”\n\nFr Pierre, who is affectionately known to his congregation and local community as “Father Mannie”, is one of the most recognizable Catholic priests in the region. He celebrated a major milestone in 2021, marking four decades of priestly service to the Mucurapo parish and wider Catholic community.

Thousands of daily commuters across Trinidad and Tobago faced widespread travel chaos and massive disruption on Monday, when 5,000 of the nation’s maxi-taxi operators launched the first day of what they labeled a “rest and reflection” industrial action, leaving many stranded for hours and forcing others to pay exorbitant premium prices for alternative transport. The disruption impacted commuters across major population corridors, including the entire East-West corridor covering Curepe and Arima, as well as the central and southern hubs of Chaguanas and San Fernando, disrupting routines for both workers heading to jobs and students traveling to classes.

For many regular maxi-taxi users, the day began long before their usual schedule. Multiple workers told local outlet Trinidad Express that they left their homes 1 to 2 hours earlier than normal in a bid to beat the expected disruption, yet many still arrived hours late to their workplaces — and a portion of affected commuters never made it in at all. At high-traffic transit nodes including Curepe Junction and the Tunapuna area adjacent to the local market, crowds of stranded passengers lined the entire westbound shoulder of the Priority Bus Route (PBR), waiting hours for any available public transport that already filled to capacity by the time it arrived. Desperate for options, many commuters reached out to friends and family with private vehicles, begging for emergency lifts to their destinations.

Interviews with affected commuters painted a picture of both logistical chaos and unexpected financial strain. Many passengers reported waiting for available transport as early as 5 a.m., with no luck securing a maxi-taxi. Cassandra Armstrong, a regular maxi user who commutes to her job in Macoya from Tunapuna, told reporters that by 8 a.m. she was still stuck along the PBR, relying on a last-minute ride from a co-worker to get to her shift. One male commuter told Express he walked all the way from Macoya to the Tunapuna Market transit hub in search of an available maxi, only to wait nearly two hours with no luck before calling his employer to say he could not come to work.

At Curepe Junction, a mother holding her young daughter’s hand described feeling abandoned by the striking operators, watching full public transit buses and empty maxi-taxis pass her by without stopping. “They doh care about people children at all. Look at what they putting me through,” she told reporters. Another commuter, who asked to remain anonymous, said she planned ahead for the strike by prepping to use a ride-sharing app Sunday night, but found she was far from alone in that idea — by yesterday morning, there were no ride-share drivers available anywhere in her area. “Whole morning. Nothing at all you know…nothing,” she said.

Empty maxi-taxis owned by striking operators were spotted speeding through major transit hubs, a sight that frustrated waiting passengers. “Look at them. They just torturing people now,” one waiting woman said. With the shortage of formal transport, informal independent operators stepped in to capitalize on the crisis, charging inflated fares far above standard maxi-taxi rates. One driver who normally runs the Curepe to Maracas Valley, St Joseph route told reporters he was charging passengers $20 per person just to travel to Tunapuna, with higher rates for destinations further along the corridor. “It is a hustle out here. Money hadda make,” he said.

Photographs from the day captured the scale of the disruption: at Port of Spain’s City Gate Transport Hub, a usually busy lot that normally holds dozens of waiting maxi-taxis sat nearly empty by 10:23 a.m., while students sat on their own lunch kits on the hub’s sidewalk, waiting hours for any available ride. Passengers who did manage to squeeze into overcrowded public transit buses were visibly weary, with one onlooker noting, “When last you see bus full so.” Multiple commuters highlighted that beyond the inconvenience of missed work and school, the strike imposed an immediate unplanned financial burden, as alternative ride-sharing and private taxi options cost far more than the affordable maxi-taxi fares they rely on for daily travel. The action marks the first day of a three-day work stoppage by maxi-taxi operators across the nation.