EIGHT POLICE officers have been arrested in a major breakthrough in the two-year-old homicide investigation into the fatal shooting of three men in Second Caledonia, Morvant.

Seven of the officers fired their weapons repeatedly killing Joel Jacob, Noel Diamond and Israel Moses Clinton, almost instantly in a volley of gunfire during a stop and search near the Auto Guru building, Juman Drive, on June 27, 2020.

Among those detained are a sergeant and seven police constables who were arrested. Police said one of the officers was arrested on Thursday night and the others early Friday.

Investigators confirmed that one of the officers has agreed to co-operate and give evidence against his colleagues.

[caption id="attachment_965046" align="alignnone" width="276"] Joel Jacob -[/caption]

The arrest of the eight is a part of a painstaking forensic investigation which saw investigators re-enact the scene of the crime last August as they were guided step by step by Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard SC.

One of attorneys representing six of the officers, Ulric Skerritt, in an interview on Friday said he had visited his clients at various police stations on Friday after they were detained by a special task force, led by Supt Wayne Abbott.

In a radio interview, acting CoP McDonald Jacob said on Friday eight officers had been detained between Thursday night and early Friday as the investigation drew to a close. Jacob said the investigators would seek the advice of the DPP once the arrested officers were formally interviewed.

Attorney: Officers treated like 'common criminals'

Skerritt said he had spoken to his clients who were kept separately at police stations in Morvant, Arima, Maloney, St Joseph, San Juan and St James.

The officer who has agreed to turn State witness recently returned from overseas and has given statements to investigators in the matter, sources said. A previous operation to arrest the officers had to be called off after they learned that the officer had travelled to the United States on a one-way ticket.

Investigators intend to interview each of the officers under caution before consulting Gaspard on whether there is sufficient evidence to support criminal charges as high as murder.

Skerritt said his clients were in good spirits and four of them were confined to cells on cold concrete without even the luxury of a mattress. He said he was told by a member of the investigative team that his clients would have been interviewed as early as 9 am on Friday but by 12.50 pm none of them had been questioned.

He said the officers who have "put their lives on the line are being treated as common criminals" and he expects the Police Association to support them if they are charged with any offence.

[caption id="attachment_965048" align="alignnone" width="318"] Israel Moses Clinton -[/caption]

The attorney said his clients believe they acted lawfully after one of the three men pointed a firearm at them during a stop and search. Seven of the eight officers who were detained are assign