One of Trinidad and Tobago’s leading daily newspapers has painted a disturbing picture of a likely increase in what is already an alarming rate of what it says are “acts of criminality” that target the business community in the twin-island Republic. The Trinidad Guardian of Thursday, January 11, reports that “experts in the area of criminality” are of the view that acts of criminality which the country’s business community faced in 2023 are likely to worsen this year before it gets better.” “Last year was a year in which members of the business community were the victims of armed burglaries, kidnappings and even murder,” the Guardian article stated, citing instances of the targeting of businesses, the gunning down of a businesswomen “in her Range Rover vehicle in her driveway in San Fernando” and the shooting to death of a businessman “outside his pharmacy in Aranguez” in April last year.
In underscoring the spate of crimes that have targeted business owners in T&T, the Guardian article also alluded to an incident back in May last year in which bandits overpowered security guards in Church’s Chicken in Port-of-Spain and escaped with “thousands of dollars” as well as “the shooting at Courts Megastore last Decem-ber in the middle of the busy Christmas season.” There has been no New Year letup in crimes targeting the business community, the article states, pointing to what it says are “new crimes” targeting the business community that have been committed “two weeks into 2024.” As the spate of crimes persist, the Guardian article points to a decision reportedly made by the Chief Executive of a local tyre company to close her business following a robbery. The businesswoman’s Facebook page notice regarding the closure decision five years into its operation reportedly dealt with the impact which the recent robbery had had on her.
What businesses in Trinidad and Tobago may find no less worrying is a prediction in the Guardian report attributed to a criminologist whom the article identifies as Darius Figueira, asserting that he expects that businesses will be increasingly targeted in 2024. Reportedly asserting that the targeting of business for robberies this year is likely to expand, Figueira is quoted in The Guardian as saying that “the focus on businesses in 2024 will expand” and that the generators of wealth and their beneficial owners will increasingly be “targeted through a menu of illicit measures to capture this wealth, from cyber-attacks to traditional robberies, high jacking, burglaries, fraud etc.” He reportedly added that “all forms of business practice that offer opportunities for attack will be fully exploited on an escalating basis, especially cash, and how it is secured from assault.”
Strategic security Consultant Garvin Heerah also threw in his lot, according to the Guardian report, agreeing that the crime situation will get worse this year. “The impact of crime on businesses in T&T is likely to worsen in 2024 due to various factors,” he is quoted as saying. Heerah cites some of the contributory factors as “the escalating gang warfare, coupled with the illegal drugs and arms trade” which he says, “pose a significant threat to public safety.” Heerah is also reportedly concerned that “the upcoming Carnival season might exacerbate the situation” given what he says has been “the historically brazen disregard for law enforcement” during those celebrations. Efforts in Trinidad and Tobago to control criminal activities in Trinidad and Tobago, Heerah is also quoted as saying, is also complicated by the proliferation of organized crime. Heerah is also placing the blame for the proliferation of crimes targeting business houses in Trinidad and Tobago on what the Guardian article describes as “inadequate tactical policing”, allowing criminal elements to operate with relative impunity.
Meanwhile, the article alludes to what it says is the increasing reliance on digital technologies, businesses face threats such as hacking, data breaches, ransomware attacks, and other forms of cybercrime that can compromise sensitive information. “Crimes targeting the business community in Trinidad and Tobago,” the article says, “also include kidnapping, targeting individuals associated with businesses or business owners themselves for ransom.” The article also adds that businesses in “certain (unnamed) sectors may be affected by drug-related crimes, including the trafficking of narcotics.” This, it says, “can pose risks to both employees and the overall safety of the business environment.”
