PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Feb 2, CMC – Commissioner of Police, Erla Harewood-Christopher was released from police custody on Saturday after being held at the St Clair Police Station in connection with the illegal procurement of high-powered rifles.
“What happened here is an outrage. It is outrageous because the Commissioner of Police was questioned, not as a person from whom the officers wanted information, but she was cautioned, and we all know or we should know, that a caution is administered to a person against whom the officer has reasonable grounds to suspect the person has committed an offence,” said the Commissioner’s lawyer, Pamela Elder SC, while speaking with reporters following Harewood-Chrisotpher’s release
Elder also raised questions around the decision to detain her client.
“My client has endured two days of unrelenting questioning and interrogation. She has endured this interrogation as a suspect who has been cautioned and in light of that ordeal she has endured, I have advised her that though she wishes to speak, this is not the time.l”
“The burning question which I would like answered, is ‘Who is the senior officer that authorised the arrest of the Commissioner of Police on material that did not establish grounds to suspect?’”
Harewood-Christopher was arrested hours after she was questioned at the Police Administration Headquarters in Port of Spain on Thursday afternoon.
Her detention followed the arrest of former Director of the Strategic Services Agency (SSA), Roger Best, as police continue to investigate the alleged illegal procurement of sniper rifles, presumably for use within the SSA.
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