Black Immigrant Daily News

The Gaston Browne Administration needs to come up with ways in which all persons would benefit from its electioneering moves – in particular the wiping-off of utility arrears – says Harold Lovell.

On October 5, the Cabinet announced that the Antigua Public Utilities Authority (APUA) will forgive the debts of residential customers whose electricity and water accounts were in arrears before and up to December 31, 2021.

Additionally, those who pay the current month’s obligation, from this amnesty, will be reconnected by November 1, the Cabinet decided.

But Lovell, the United Progressive Party’s (UPP) Political Leader, says there should have been a more sustainable and people-friendly approach to this decision.

For quite some time, the UPP has been suggesting that the fuel variation charge – which forms a major part of the domestic electricity bill – should be adjusted according to the price of fuel on the world market.

The whole point of the fuel variation charge, Lovell notes, is that the price of fuel varies.  Therefore, when the price is high, the charge will increase, and when it goes down, the charge, likewise, will drop. This is the reason it was introduced years ago, he says.

Had the Government been utilizing this method, Lovell says, there would have been no need to offer some customers an amnesty while others receive nothing.

The UPP believes that keeping the cost of electricity low –

by correcting the issue of the fuel variation charge – would have made the payment of utilities much more manageable for the average household, and therefore many who fell into arrears would not have done so.

Lovell says this would have been a more responsible way to manage the country’s resources.

The Party has no issues with certain relief measures, since many people are in urgent need of assistance, Lovell says.

However, he adds that the timing proves the Administration’s motives are sinister, since the UPP’s recommendations for relief were ignored during the pandemic.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet has also decided that unpaid property taxes up to December 31, 2021 will also be wiped off under its amnesty programme, provided that home-owners pay the current year’s tax.

Hospital bills owed to the Sir Lester Bird Medical Center, and in arrears for more than 180 days, will also fall under the amnesty programme, and these balances will be forgiven.

Lovell says, again, that all debt forgiveness should have been accorded at a time when most people were feeling the pinch and were in need of such help.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN OUR WHATSAPP GROUP

NewsAmericasNow.com

Black Immigrant Daily News

– Advertisement –

A joint firearms operation between INTERPOL and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS) has led to the seizure of some 350 weapons, 3,300 rounds of ammunition and record drug hauls across the Caribbean.

Operation Trigger VII (24 – 30 September) saw officers from 19 countries coordinate controls at airports, seaports, land border and inland hotspots, acting on intelligence pointing to organized crime groups and individuals involved in firearms trafficking.

They also searched warehouses, inspected packages and carried out targeted checks at firearms dealerships, shooting ranges and private security companies.

Police made a total of 510 arrests during the week-long operation, including the subject of an INTERPOL Red Notice wanted for murder.

Officers in Haiti inspect vehicle

– Advertisement –

Trigger VII actions also led to the impressive seizure of 10.1 tonnes of cocaine and 2.5 tonnes of cannabis, highlighting the convergence of trafficking routes and the use of firearms used to control the illegal drug trade.

An operational hub was hosted by CARICOM IMPACS in Barbados. Officers from INTERPOL, the Joint Regional Communications Center (JRCC), the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and US Homeland Security Investigations(HSI), worked side-by-side to provide real-time assistance to officers in the field.

Guadeloupe inspection

When customs authorities in Dominica x-rayed a suspicious package, they sent information to the operational hub for checks on the sender and intended recipient.

ATF and HSI queried their respective databases, and officers found multiple firearms purchases, placing the package under surveillance. When the recipient came to collect the shipment, police discovered 20 pistols and multiple rounds of ammunition hidden in cereal boxes.

Investigations are continuing both in the United States and Dominica.

HSI and the Royal Bahamas Police Force worked closely on an international controlled delivery from Fort Lauderdale to Nassau. The package, which had been flagged in the US, was monitored throughout its shipment in order to seize two firearms and arrest the recipient.

A number of emerging trends were identified throughout the operation. In St Kitts and Nevis, for example, officers saw their first seizure of firearms assembled using ‘80 per cent’ pistol frames.

Also known as ghost guns, these weapons are unserialized and untraceable as they are often completed at home using specialized kits, allowing individuals to bypass gun laws and checks.

Authorities in Jamaica, with support from US law enforcement, made a record-setting bust when they intercepted 500.2 kg of cocaine – worth approximately USD 25 million – about to be loaded onto a private jet bound for Canada. In a separate case, they also seized 500kg of cannabis.

In Curaçao, the Coast Guard stopped vessels carrying a total of 3 tonnes of cocaine and 1.8 tonnes of cannabis. Authorities made 17 arrests in connection with the shipments, believed to have originated in Venezuela.

Authorities in Bonaire made similar interceptions of cocaine en route from Venezuela, seizing nearly 4 tonnes.

Several countries reported reverse trafficking routes, an increasing trend, with seizures of cannabis coming from Canada and the United States into the Caribbean region. Cannabis plants, forged US currency, stolen vehicles and vessels, contraband cigarettes and alcohol were also seized during the operation.

“The results of Operation Trigger VII show how firearms are clear enablers of most types of crime. When we go after their weapons, we also go after the full range of activities carried out by organized crime groups,” said INTERPOL Secretary General Jürgen Stock.

“The results also highlight the power of what law enforcement bodies can achieve when we work in a joint, coordinated manner, sharing information in real-time on cross-border investigations,” the Secretary General added.

Lt. Col. Michael Jones, Executive Director of CARICOM IMPACS, said: “Without this cohesive action among agencies, our region will not be able to effectively tackle illicit trafficking and by extension, transnational organized crime.”

“Operation Trigger VII allowed authorities to gain a better understanding of existing threats, patterns, trends and smuggling channels within the region, hence ultimately saving lives. I am indeed proud of the role CARICOM IMPACS played in the exercise and more so of its role as a coordination hub,” concluded Mr. Jones.

Stephen Kavanagh, INTERPOL’s Executive Director of Police Services, highlighted that the operation was the first joint effort between INTERPOL and CARICOM IMPACS against firearms and would likely yield results for months to come as investigations continue.

The operation was carried out under the framework of INTERPOL’s Project Target, funded by the German Federal Foreign Office.

Participating countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Bonaire, Curacao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, France (Guadeloupe and Martinique), Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, The Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos.

SOURCE: INTERPOL. Headline photo: In Dominica officers discovered 20 pistols and multiple rounds of ammunition in cereal boxes.

– Advertisement –

NewsAmericasNow.com

Black Immigrant Daily News

Rédaction web
Samedi 15 Octobre 2022 – 14h55

Le conducteur du deux-roues, interpellé jeudi (13 octobre) par la police, a été incarcéré ce matin (samedi 15 octobre). Le 6 juillet dernier, il avait renversé violemment, sur la voie du TCSP, à Sainte-Thérèse, une femme de 35 ans, puis avait pris la fuite. 

Sur le même sujet

  Deux blessés par arme à feu la …

NewsAmericasNow.com

Black Immigrant Daily News

R?agir ? cet article

NewsAmericasNow.com

Black Immigrant Daily News

A man, who reportedly murdered a woman and her two sons has been sentenced to three life sentences in the Home Circuit Court.

The man identified as Mark Henry was slapped with the sentences when he appeared in court on Friday, October 14. He is to serve 49 years and six months in prison on each count before being eligible for parole.

The presiding Judge, Justice Lorna Shelly Williams, ordered that the sentences are to run concurrently.

The victims, Nadine Carridice and her sons 11-year-old Roshan Ellis and 16-year-old Jovan Thomas, were found with knife wounds to the neck.

The 56-year-old farmer was last month convicted on three counts of murder following a trial in the Manchester Home Circuit Court.

Henry has maintained his innocence and the court was told by a probation officer that he expressed no remorse for the killings.

The bodies of the 42-year-old woman and her sons were found outside their home in Ramble, Manchester on April 29, 2014.

NewsAmericasNow.com