CoP warns illegal quarrying fuels gangs and homicides

Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice Al­lis­ter Gue­var­ro reaf­firmed his ze­ro-tol­er­ance ap­proach to il­le­gal quar­ry­ing and min­er­al pro­cess­ing, say­ing the Trinidad and To­ba­go Po­lice Ser­vice has been pur­su­ing of­fend­ers for years and will con­tin­ue to dis­man­tle the crim­i­nal net­works be­hind the trade.

He said the is­sue did not sud­den­ly come un­der in­ves­ti­ga­tion, as of­fi­cers have con­sis­tent­ly tar­get­ed op­er­a­tions that rob the coun­try of its re­sources, un­der­mine le­git­i­mate in­dus­try, and help fi­nance or­gan­ised crim­i­nal gangs.

Ac­cord­ing to the Com­mis­sion­er, forty-sev­en peo­ple were ar­rest­ed and charged be­tween 2020 and 2025 for of­fences re­lat­ed to il­le­gal quar­ry­ing and min­er­al pro­cess­ing with­out the re­quired li­cence from the Di­rec­tor of Min­er­als or the State Land Com­mis­sion­er. Nine­teen were charged for min­ing with­out a li­cence and twen­ty-eight for pro­cess­ing with­out a li­cence.

In 2020, twelve peo­ple were charged for min­ing in Waller­field and San­gre Grande. In 2022, three were charged for min­ing in Matu­ra. In 2023, four were charged for min­ing in Ve­ga De Oropouche. In 2024, nine were charged for pro­cess­ing min­er­als in Waller­field, and this year nine­teen were charged for pro­cess­ing min­er­als in Manuel Con­go, Ari­ma.

Gue­var­ro warned those in­volved in the il­le­gal trade to cease their ac­tiv­i­ties, say­ing of­fend­ers con­tin­ue to fu­el homi­cides, ex­tor­tion, and gang op­er­a­tions.

He said some have at­tempt­ed to paint them­selves as vic­tims, but the facts show they en­gaged in crim­i­nal ac­tiv­i­ty that ex­ploit­ed the na­tion’s re­sources and strength­ened or­gan­ised crime.

He added that of­fi­cers will not be in­flu­enced by ef­forts to re­cast of­fend­ers as vic­tims, as the re­al vic­tims are cit­i­zens whose land and com­mu­ni­ties are be­ing ex­ploit­ed for crim­i­nal gain. “Don’t play vic­tim to the me­dia on one hand, while you’re hold­ing the shov­el that digs the coun­try’s grave in the oth­er. It is akin to a thief com­ing to your house to rob you and get­ting vex be­cause you put up bur­glar proof­ing,” he said.

Gue­var­ro said those who con­tin­ue to of­fend will face ar­rest, pros­e­cu­tion, and the full weight of the law as the TTPS works to pro­tect na­tion­al re­sources, sup­port law­ful in­dus­try, and dis­man­tle crim­i­nal en­ter­pris­es that threat­en pub­lic trust.