Police Chief: No Intimidation In Lambirds Case

On Friday morning, in a candid interview with the STAR, acting police commissioner Errol Alexander spoke on a few issues involving the police that had surfaced this week. Alexander first spoke on the Lambirds matter and the rumours that his men investigating the matter were being pressured by political forces. “As far as I know, there is no truth to this,” Alexander said. “In fact, as we speak, the investigators who are pursuing the matter are about to lay additional charges in the matter.” According to him the Lambirds Affair is being handled by two primary investigators, one dealing with the human trafficking aspect of the charges, the other with the money laundering aspect. “So as far as I am aware this matter is progressing and our lawmen are being allowed to do their work without fear or favour,” Alexander said.

We also quizzed the acting top cop about the news of missing weapons at a particular police station. Earlier this week the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force had confirmed rumours that guns had gone missing from an armory of one of its stations. According to a press statement from the RSLPF, “on Monday, May 18, 2015 during the changing of the shift and at the handing over of government equipment at the Anse La Raye Police Station it appeared that three firearms were unaccounted for along with twenty-eight rounds of amunition. Consequently, a search of the armory ensued where the following discovery was made.”

The statement went on to say further that “a full criminal investigation has ensued and continues at this time into the disappearance of these weapons.”

However, while admitting to the STAR about the discovery of the missing guns under police watch, Alexander gave a slightly different account. According to him the RSLPF is now undergoing a review of its inventory. “We have not had a routine inventory for over a year now, even though this is something that should be done at least every six months by the research and development unit,” he said. “It was during one of these checks that the guns were found to be missing in Anse La Raye,” he revealed, adding that similar reviews are now underway at all police stations.

Asked about the rumours connecting the missing guns to an apparent threat on the life of justice minister Phillip La Corbiniere, Alexander said he had no such information. “What I can say is that yes we had some information about such a threat which the best of our information has proven to be untrue,” he told the STAR. “In any event, whenever we receive information of any such threat we would immediately beef up security for the individual in question. So it was never a case where the minister himself made any such request,” Alexander clarified.