标签： Trinidad and Tobago

A prominent regional security consultant is pushing for a rigorous, coordinated investigation into a spate of targeted robberies that specifically target individuals immediately after they complete large cash withdrawals from local financial institutions, warning that the rising trend may point to sophisticated organised criminal networks rather than random opportunistic crimes. Dr Garvin Heerah, a widely respected specialist in regional public safety issues, laid out his evidence-backed concerns in a weekend interview with local outlet the Trinidad and Tobago Express, days after two separate violent robbery incidents unfolded on the same date, October 20, that left two female victims severely assaulted and stripped of tens of thousands of dollars in cash. The first October 20 incident unfolded when a 37-year-old woman from the Arima area withdrew $20,000 from a bank branch located inside Trincity Mall, only to be physically attacked and robbed by assailants shortly after leaving the premises. Hours later, a 56-year-old woman who had just withdrawn $22,000 from a separate bank branch was accosted and robbed outside a popular Adam’s Bagels location in Maraval. Law enforcement officials confirmed that their preliminary assessments indicate both women were tracked inside their respective financial institutions before being followed to their eventual attack sites, and 10 total male suspects were detained in connection with the two back-to-back incidents. Official compiled records show that at least eight identical targeted robbery cases have been publicly documented across the country so far this year, with the total combined value of stolen cash from these cases reaching $380,500. Local police have previously flagged the existence of so-called “bandit sleeper” operatives deployed by criminal groups, who pose as ordinary customers inside bank branches. These well-dressed operatives are trained to monitor transaction counters to spot customers who are receiving large sums of physical cash, and even use the distinct audio of bank cash-counting machines to identify high-value targets. Once a mark is identified, the sleeper relays detailed descriptions of the victim’s appearance and clothing to waiting accomplices posted outside the financial institution, who then initiate the surveillance and eventual robbery. Dr Heerah emphasized that while unproven, there are legitimate lines of inquiry that investigators must explore, including the possibility that criminal networks may have access to confidential customer transaction data, potentially facilitated by compromised insiders with access to restricted financial institution systems. He repeatedly clarified that these are critical investigative questions, not pre-determined conclusions, and explicitly warned against making unsubstantiated public accusations against bank staff or financial operators before formal evidence is collected. The security expert laid out a clear roadmap for the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service to conduct a structured, intelligence-led probe: cross-reference all recorded robbery cases to identify shared suspects, matching modus operandi, consistent surveillance tactics, common getaway vehicle descriptions, and overlapping communication trails that could link seemingly isolated incidents to a single coordinated network. He also called for formal, structured partnerships between law enforcement, local financial institutions, and national intelligence agencies to trace the full supply chain of the criminal operations, moving beyond arresting low-level street assailants to identify the masterminds, facilitators, and financiers backing the string of attacks. To reduce public risk, Dr Heerah issued a series of actionable safety guidelines for residents: avoid discussing large cash transactions in public spaces, opt for secure electronic fund transfers whenever possible instead of withdrawing large sums of physical cash, and remain alert for any vehicles or individuals that appear to be trailing after leaving a financial institution. He explicitly advised residents not to confront suspected followers directly, and instead to travel immediately to a well-populated, high-visibility public location to contact law enforcement if they believe they are being targeted, rather than returning home or moving to an isolated area. He also urged all members of the public to promptly report any suspicious activity near bank branches to authorities, and preserve any relevant footage or information that could support active investigations. For financial institutions, Dr Heerah recommended a full top-to-bottom review of existing security protocols, including staff access controls for sensitive customer data, customer privacy protection frameworks, CCTV coverage across all public and semi-public areas of branches, and standardized procedures for staff to flag and report suspicious individuals loitering inside banking premises. He noted that organised criminal operations do not always rely on elaborate, high-profile tactics, and often succeed by exploiting predictable public routines, gaps in routine security, and unauthorized access to information that should remain strictly confidential. Dr Heerah concluded that the multi-agency investigation must be designed to deliver tangible public safety protections, without stoking unnecessary widespread public fear or eroding public trust in the country’s formal financial system.

A former 10-year executive board member of Trinidad and Tobago’s National Council of Indian Culture (NCIC) is urging a far-reaching, systemic review of governance frameworks for all local cultural organisations, following a high-profile wave of state-linked sponsor withdrawals from the iconic annual Divali Nagar festival. Visham Bhimull, who served on the NCIC leadership team from 2015 to 2025, issued the call in the wake of recent announcements that major public and semi-state entities including bmobile, National Flour Mills, First Citizens Bank and Caribbean Airlines would pull their planned sponsorship for this year’s event, shortly before local beverage brand Blue Waters stepped forward as the headline diamond sponsor. The sequence of events has sparked a flurry of partisan political commentary across public and social media platforms, but Bhimull emphasized that no assumptions about unsubstantiated motives behind the sponsor withdrawals should be circulated without concrete evidence. Instead, he argued, the public discourse should shift away from surface-level partisan sparring to address far more foundational questions about the long-term sustainability, operational independence and public accountability of cultural institutions that steward shared community heritage. Bhimull stressed that no cultural organisation’s identity or public mandate should ever be reduced to the personal political affiliations of its individual volunteer or appointed officeholders. Across all successive national administrations regardless of party affiliation, governments have a dual responsibility: to fully respect the operational autonomy of community cultural bodies, while also enforcing rigorous, transparent accountability standards for any public funds allocated to cultural programming. Disputes over public cultural funding, he added, should never devolve into partisan mudslinging, and instead be resolved through structured, inclusive public dialogue rooted in consistent, publicly published policy guidelines. Crucially, he noted, the rich cultural heritage that the NCIC exists to safeguard belongs not to any political party, corporate entity or small leadership cohort, but to every citizen of the country. Sustained preservation of that heritage can only be achieved through publicly transparent institutional governance, cross-sector collaborative partnerships, and structural commitments that outlast changes in government leadership, corporate sponsorship cycles and internal organisational turnover. Bhimull pushed back against the emerging narrative that direct public funding for grassroots community Divali celebrations and support for the large-scale national Divali Nagar event are inherently competing priorities, arguing that both streams of investment can advance collective national cultural development as long as funding eligibility criteria are clearly communicated and applied fairly across all applicants. For its part, the NCIC itself must also uphold equally rigorous public standards for its internal governance, fundraising practices, corporate partner vetting processes and public reporting on the real-world outcomes of its cultural programmes. Private sector sponsorship, he noted, is a fully legitimate and highly valuable revenue stream for cultural organisations, provided that no corporate partnership ever undermines the institution’s core public service mandate or erodes its independent decision-making authority. To move beyond the longstanding overreliance on a single flagship event, Bhimull outlined a vision for the NCIC to build year-round, structured collaborative partnerships with grassroots community cultural groups, non-governmental organisations, primary and secondary schools, academic researchers, independent traditional and emerging Indo-Trinidadian artistes, and private sector stakeholders. These expanded partnerships would create far more performance and skill-development opportunities for creatives, while deepening the NCIC’s community impact across all regions of the country. He emphasized that the 60-year-old organisation, founded in 1964, has a far broader public mandate than just successfully staging the annual Divali Nagar festival: its core mission requires sustained, year-round investment in expanding public access to Indo-Trinidadian cultural knowledge, boosting community participation in cultural activities, and creating long-term professional pathways for cultural workers nationwide. Bhimull went on to raise a critical, long-unaddressed question: why an institution with six decades of established cultural legacy, a permanent dedicated event site, and an internationally recognised flagship festival remains structurally vulnerable to sudden, unilateral decisions made by political actors and corporate sponsors. He noted that the current public confrontation over sponsorship is merely a visible symptom of deep-seated institutional weaknesses that developed years before the current NCIC leadership team and sitting national administration took office. “My concern is not just securing funding for this year’s festival,” Bhimull explained. “It is addressing decades of missed opportunities to strengthen the NCIC’s broader mandate, modernise its governance structures, and build the operational capacity to operate as a fully self-sustaining institution.” He added that during his 10-year tenure on the board, the NCIC had successfully drafted a comprehensive strategic growth plan and rolled out several new pilot cultural initiatives, but those efforts ultimately failed to deliver lasting change because they were never paired with viable long-term business and operational models capable of generating stable, recurring independent revenue, supporting full-time professional staffing, and ensuring long-term organisational continuity. The organisation remained far too dependent on the single annual Divali Nagar event and its last-minute annual scramble for sponsors, a structural flaw that the current sponsorship crisis has laid completely bare. The public controversy drew comments from multiple senior political figures in recent days. Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar initially made public remarks highlighting the irony of Blue Waters stepping in as the diamond sponsor, referencing a past derogatory public comment about Indo-Trinidadian citizens made by a relative of the Hadeed family that owns the Blue Waters brand. Former UNC government minister Dr Bhoendradatt Tewarie later released a public social media statement urging all stakeholders to refrain from politicising Divali and the Divali Nagar event, describing attempts to inject partisan conflict into the Hindu cultural and religious festival as deeply inappropriate and counterproductive. When questioned by reporters later, Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar announced that she considered the sponsorship controversy “old news” and was no longer interested in engaging with the debate, stating she had already moved her focus to other pending national policy priorities, and dismissed questions about whether her earlier comments had politicised a sacred community event.

Port of Spain, Trinidad — At a star-studded 50th global anniversary gala and awards ceremony hosted at the Hyatt Regency Port of Spain last Thursday, Habitat for Humanity Trinidad and Tobago (HFHTT) national director Jennifer Massiah issued a urgent public call for expanded community, corporate, and state support to address a staggering unmet housing gap of roughly 100,000 safe, affordable homes for vulnerable families across the twin-island nation. The landmark event, themed “Let’s Open Doors, Together”, gathered local and global Habitat leadership, longstanding corporate partners, volunteers, and public dignitaries to celebrate half a century of the international humanitarian organization’s work advancing accessible shelter, while charting a collective path forward to tackle worsening local and global housing insecurity.

The evening featured a special tribute to long-time local collaborators, including a formal plaque presentation honouring Coosal’s Group of Companies for a decade of sustained partnership with HFHTT. Sieunarine Coosal, immediate past chairman of HFHTT’s Capital Campaign Cabinet and executive chairman of the Coosal’s Group, received the recognition from Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI) chief executive officer Jonathan Reckford and HFHI board member Adrianne Todman during the proceedings. Other distinguished attendees included HFHTT chairman Derwin Howell, and HFHI’s regional vice-president for Latin America and the Caribbean Ernestro Castro Garcia. Cultural entertainment for the gala was provided by local beloved acts Exodus Steel Orchestra, Eko, the Shiv Shakti dance troupe, and Mr Strings.

Across all keynote addresses, speakers aligned around a shared core mantra of “Home. Community. Hope.”, emphasizing that stable, secure housing delivers cascading public benefits: improved academic outcomes for children, greater financial and personal stability for adult household members, and strengthened social cohesion across neighbourhoods. Massiah noted that the most acute housing shortfalls are concentrated in South and East Trinidad, and emphasized that reaching the 100,000-home target would not be possible without broad, cross-sector buy-in. “We keep building. Innovating. Keep partnering. We keep opening doors,” she told the audience. “The next chapter will require all of us: mission-aligned organizations ready to invest, volunteers willing to donate their time, communities eager to participate, and partners ready to walk alongside us. Habitat will remain focused on centering the people our mission exists to serve, because there are still doors to open, families waiting for opportunities, and communities that need intentional investment to build a shared future.”

HFHTT chairman Derwin Howell framed access to shelter as one of the most foundational, underrecognized pillars of community well-being. “A door can be a simple thing. But what lies behind it can mean everything,” he remarked. “Behind one door may be a child doing homework in a safe environment. Behind another may be a family experiencing stability for the first time.” He went on to acknowledge that every milestone HFHI has reached over its 50-year history has been made possible through collaborative action between low-income families, volunteers, donors, corporate allies, and government stakeholders.

Global HFHI CEO Jonathan Reckford shared updated organizational impact data, noting that the global Habitat network has supported more than 65 million people worldwide to build, renovate, or secure safe housing, including 36,467 people right here in Trinidad and Tobago. He acknowledged that the global affordable housing crisis has grown more severe in recent years, but emphasized that Habitat’s decades of on-the-ground experience positions the network to deliver tangible, scalable solutions. Adrianne Todman, HFHI board member, shared a personal anecdote of growing up in the United States Virgin Islands, noting her mother’s lessons about giving generously from a place of compassion and faith, and urging all attendees to contribute what they can to support vulnerable households.

Prior to the formal gala, HFHTT hosted a hands-on community service activity to mark the 50th global anniversary: a full home painting project for a family in Endeavour, Chaguanas, sponsored by CCC-Citibank. The volunteer build day drew participation from Trinidad and Tobago President Christine Kangaloo and other senior public dignitaries. The event also included a formal awards segment recognizing top local sponsors for their sustained contributions to HFHTT’s mission, with honourees including Coosal’s Group of Companies (Titanium Sponsor), Proman Trinidad, Atlantic LNG Company of Trinidad and Tobago, Phoenix Park Gas Processors Ltd, EOG Resources Trinidad Ltd, Point Lisas Nitrogen Ltd (Platinum Sponsor), Republic Bank Ltd, Acado Distribution, and the National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago.

Against a backdrop of viral social media clips purporting to show robbery incidents circulating nearly every day, official data released by the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) reveals a striking 30.1% year-on-year reduction in reported robberies across the twin-island nation during the first four months of 2026. Between January and April 2026, law enforcement recorded 423 total robbery reports, a steep decrease of 182 cases from the 605 logged over the same January-to-April window in 2025. This downward trend spans eight of the country’s nine operational police divisions, marking a broad, nationwide shift in reported robbery prevalence.

A wave of religious and community leaders in Trinidad and Tobago have stepped forward to call for measured dialogue and a peaceful resolution to the ongoing public dispute sparked by the sudden withdrawal of state and major corporate sponsorship for this year’s iconic Divali Nagar festival. Amid the unfolding debate, prominent Hindu leader Vijay Maharaj, secretary general of the longstanding Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha (SDMS), has offered a stark, personal perspective on the risks of overreliance on state funding for cultural and religious events. Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Sunday Express, Maharaj noted he was not representing the SDMS in formal capacity, but shared a core principle instilled in him by his late father, the revered Sat Maharaj, decades prior: “I learnt many years ago from my late father never to depend on anyone, especially from any State organisation, for anything.” He explained that the 70-plus year old SDMS, founded in 1952 as a religious, cultural and educational body with a primary focus on academic programming, had briefly relied on state support in its earliest years but had deliberately built full operational independence ever since, only accepting voluntary, non-binding contributions from time to time with no strings attached. Maharaj declined to wade directly into the specific circumstances of the Divali Nagar sponsorship pullout, stating he wished to avoid dragging the conversation into partisan political debate or weighing in on the operations of cultural organisations that host only one or two large-scale public events per year. Elsewhere, Inter-Religious Organisation (IRO) vice-president Pundit Lloyd Mukram Sirjoo echoed calls for restraint, noting that Hindu cultural groups in Trinidad and Tobago have historically faced persistent funding hurdles when organising major public religious celebrations, a challenge rarely encountered by other faith communities. Sirjoo stressed that he did not possess full details of the events that led public sector bodies including the National Lotteries Control Board, Caribbean Airlines, bmobile and National Flour Mills to pull their previously committed sponsorship in recent days, and warned the public against rushing to one-sided conclusions before all facts are verified. He added that his core priority was ensuring the dispute did not overshadow national Divali observances, and expressed confidence that all parties could reach an amicable resolution to preserve the festival’s unifying spirit. This year’s Divali Nagar, hosted by the National Council of Indian Culture (NCIC) at its Endeavour, Chaguanas site, is scheduled to run from October 30 to November 7, drawing tens of thousands of attendees annually to enjoy cultural performances, heritage exhibitions, devotional activities and showcases of Indo-Trinidadian history. In the wake of the public sector sponsorship exodus, local beverage firm Blue Waters, owned by Dominic Hadeed, stepped in last week to commit significant financial backing and was named the event’s official Diamond Sponsor. The announcement soon drew a public, sarcastic remark from Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who highlighted a leaked, controversial recorded phone conversation from earlier this year in which Star Sabga – the aunt of Hadeed’s wife Genevieve – made a derogatory public slur targeting the sitting government, a comment that is currently the subject of active legal proceedings. Persad-Bissessar noted the apparent irony of the Hadeed family’s public sponsorship of a national religious event in light of the private slur, a remark that has added a new layer of partisan friction to the already tense debate over the festival’s funding.