IN its first major breakthrough into the alleged unsanctioned operations of the Strategic Services Agency (SSA), considered to be one of the most effective covert weapons in the fight against serious crime, police have detained four people – including its director Major Roger Best, a decorated soldier, Ian Albert Ezekiel Brown, the charismatic pastor of the Jerusalem Bride Church, and two others.
The SSA is authorised to intercept communications after obtaining court orders under the Interception of Communication Act. The agency reports directly to the National Security Council, chaired by the Prime Minister, which includes the Minister of National Security and the Attorney General, among others.
The National Security Council is charged with monitoring matters relating to defence and national security and is serviced by a secretariat comprising staff employed to assist the council.
The operation was carried out between May 15 and 16 by a hand-picked team of investigators arrested Best, Brown, Portell Griffith, the former security supervisor of the SSA, and Sgt Sherwin Waldron, who was formerly assigned to the Special Operations Response Team (SORT).
Investigators of the Professional Standards Bureau, under Snr Supt Alva Gordon, are expected to charge the suspects formally on May 17.
Best faces a charge of being in possession of a prohibited weapon. Three other suspects are expected to be charged with transferring prohibited weapons, all bailable offences.
Police executed search warrants at the suspects' homes in search of electronic devices, including iPads and cellphones as well as weapons and ammunition – including Sig Sauer MPX rifles with optics allegedly belonging to the police service. The warrants also allow the police to interrogate any communications data, and stored data and extract it from the electronic devices.
The culmination of arrests followed a two-and-a-half-month-long investigation into a wide range of allegations against SSA agents, a series of interviews, including one with former commissioner of police Gary Griffith, and consultations with Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Roger Gaspard, SC.
Under the direction of Police Commissioner Erla Harewood-Christopher and DCP Investigations and Intelligence Suzette Martin, the investigative team interviewed Best and the other suspects last week before consulting the DPP.
[caption id="attachment_1083884" align="alignnone" width="1024"] A screenshot of pastor Ian Brown during an interview with Power102 FM in March. -[/caption]
The allegation against Best is that he was in possession of a prohibited weapon, a MP5K Heckler and Koch automatic submachine gun, in contravention of the Firearm Act. Police said Best surrendered the weapon to the Air Guard at Piarco in March, after he was sent on administrative leave on March 2.
The allegation against the other three surrounds the acquisition of four rifles, including two automatic Sig Sauer MPX guns and two other high-powered rifles, from the now-defunct SORT. The weapons which were k
