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Homeland Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds addresses the media on Friday in his Abercromby Street office, Port of Spain. With him are Acting Police Commissioner Mc Donald Jacob and Minister of Public Services Marvin Gonzales. – Suresh Cholai
The government’s announcement of its intention to implement a six-month ban on the iron ore industry is expected to adversely affect around 20,000 people, says TT Iron Traders Association president Allan Ferguson.
To combat what the government has now described as a national security issue, legislation is being drafted to regulate the industry.
The ban is expected to take effect after the Finance and General Purposes subcommittee of the Cabinet finalizes the plan.
This was announced on Friday by the Minister of National Security Fitzgerald Hinds during a press conference in Abercromby Street of his ministry, the office of the Port of Spain.
He said the need to impose an industry ban arose following ongoing acts of vandalism to state assets, including water pumping stations where copper wires, cable barriers, power poles and other assets have been stolen.
Hinds said intelligence suggests the acts are not random thefts, but deliberate attacks against the state by some who may be affected by the restructuring of the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA).
He said the regulation will bring the scrap metal industry under the Ministry of Trade and Industry and only authorized traders will be allowed to continue.
Speaking to Newsday after the press conference, Ferguson said many people will be affected. He said he would not say more on the matter until he meets with his lawyers, as he is considering filing an injunction to stop the government’s move.
A cabinet committee comprising Hinds, Energy Minister Stuart Young, Trade and Industry Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon and Attorney-General Reginald Armour, SC, agreed to temporarily halt the industry. The committee was formed after the Prime Minister, on July 2, punished cable thieves and said he would talk to Armor about banning the entire industry.
Hinds said he met with Ferguson’s association two weeks ago. However, sources within the industry said they were only informed on Thursday that a decision had been taken to temporarily close the industry.
Acting Police Commissioner Mc Donald Jacob said that in the past 30 months, 129 people, including two scrap dealers, were arrested in connection with the theft and sale of copper and other metals. Given his and Hinds’ insinuation that the thefts were not mere thefts but malicious attacks against the state, Jacob could not say how many WASA and other state employees were among those arrested.
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Hinds interjected that the culprits had working knowledge of the vandalized components, suggesting they had inside help.
Jacob said police have increased patrols around state-owned compounds.
“We have decided to offer a $100,000 reward for any information that may lead to the arrest and prosecution of those responsible.”
Also at the media conference was Public Services Minister Marvin Gonzales who said vandals and thieves caused the state to find an additional $22 million to repair and replace state assets.
Hinds dismissed the notion that the plan is a roundabout way of taking the industry away from the average citizen and putting it in the hands of his party’s funders.
He said the malicious attack is part of a larger conspiracy that may need the Anti-Terrorism Act to prosecute.
