PORT OF SPAIN- The Trinidad and Tobago government has tabled legislation aimed at dealing with criminal gangs and warned that the measures contained are designed to “eat into the flesh, until it reaches the very bone”.
Attorney General Anand Ramlogan said that Anti-Gang Bill will also provide for heavy jail terms and severe financial consequences for persons who join criminal gangs and are engaged in criminal activities.
“Gangs are into drugs, gun-running, kidnapping, extortion, robbery, assault, rapes and all forms of criminal activities. The gang has become a centre piece and a foundation for crime,” he said, adding “desperate times require strong measures”.
Ramlogan said “the indoctrination process to join a gang is such that you have to prove yourself worthy of membership in the gang by committing petty crimes—robbery, selling drugs, robbing a maxi-taxi. But to gain entry into the bigger and better gangs, you have to actually prove that you could murder a man or woman in cold blood”.
He said the criminals had no respect for law and order and “that is why this legislation has teeth that would bite, eat into the flesh, until it reaches the very bone”.
According to the Attorney General, police indicate there are more than 100 gangs on the island. He recalled that former national security minister Martin Joseph had said in 2005, that there were 66 gangs comprising 500 men.
Ramlogan said that the number of gangs and hardcore members was able to multiply, leading to an undeclared state of emergency and self-imposed curfew in certain parts of the country.
“The Police Service, I am advised, says that based on their statistics there are now over 110 gangs in operation. Each gang has an average of 12 persons, but there are some gangs that are so large they number between 50 all the way to 100,” he said, adding “that is why this legislation is important”.
Ramlogan said the new legislation was part of the package of legislative measures designed to arrest the tsunami of crime. He said provisions of the bill targeted the “rude boys, bad boys and bling culture”.
“These gang leaders are using their ill-gotten gains to purchase fancy cars, fancy cell phones, and they fool the young girls who are actually being roped in…the bling culture is blinding them to the respect for the value of human life”.
Under the legislation, the court will forfeit any personal property of a gang member which, at the time of the offence, he had in his possession or control once it is shown he used such property for the benefit of a gang.
The Attorney General said the new would provide for ordinary gang members to be jailed for 20 years, jail, gang-leaders by “imprisonment for the remaining natural years of their life”, and gangsters who are also members of the protective services by 25 years in jail.
“If you cut off the head, the gang will bleed to death,” he said, noting that some gangs get intelligence information and firearms training from members of the protective services. (CMC)