The following is an edited version of the statement the Attorney General of Barbados Dale Marshall made to its parliament on Tuesday on the detention of Trinidadian arms dealer Brent Thomas by the country's police force on October 5, 2022.

Ministerial Statement given this 9th day of May 2022, by The Honourable Dale D Marshall SC, MP, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs on the matter of the involvement of the Barbados Police Service in the apprehension of Mr Brent Louis Thomas, a Trinidad and Tobago national in Barbados on the 5th October 2022.

On the 25th of April last, a decision was given in the High Court of Trinidad and Tobago (TT) by Justice Devindra Rampersad in the matter of Brent Thomas v The AG of TT and the Director of Public Prosecutions. In that decision, Justice Rampersad made reference to what he termed the “abduction” of Mr Thomas in Barbados on the 5th day of October 2022 and later in his decision, he characterised the circumstances attending Mr Thomas’s return to Trinidad from Barbados, as being unlawful.

The Government of TT has appealed the decision of the court, though it has not appealed the part of the judge’s decision which dealt with the circumstances surrounding the return of Mr Thomas to Trinidad.

This matter has been occupying the attention of the public in both TT and Barbados and before travelling to attend the FATF meeting last week I requested a full report from the Commissioner of Police on the involvement of the Barbados Police Service in the matter given the negative reference to them in the judge’s decision. The report of the commissioner has been received. I have also received reports from the regional bodies which had any involvement in the matter and these two regional bodies are the Regional Security System (the RSS), the Caricom Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (Impacs) and the Ministry of National Security in Barbados.

Having received and considered the various reports, I am now able to speak to the country on the matter through this ministerial statement.

[caption id="attachment_1015230" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Attorney General of Barbados Dale Marshall is seen in this screen grab from a YouTube video as he made a statement in that country's parliament on Tuesday. -[/caption]

These are the facts.

First let me make it clear that at no time until just over a week ago, was either the Honourable Prime Minister of Barbados or myself informed of, or in any other way made aware of, any matter relating to Mr Brent Thomas. Neither of us was consulted by anyone prior to or at the time when Mr Thomas was taken from Barbados in October of 2022. The first time that either of us became aware of any of the events relating to Mr Thomas was after the matter broke in the press in Trinidad just over a week ago. We simply had no knowledge or involvement in this matter. This is not unusual as these matters are operational, and such requests for surveillance by another law enforcement arm or for arrests of individuals do

not fall