De Freitas: It can unravel web of gangs

The Interception of Communications (Amendment) Bill can help to unravel the web of gangs, said Government Senator Nigel De Freitas. He said in the past there was organised crime in the form of the mafia but today there were was a different version by way of gangs. He added one of the hardest things to do was to prove someone is a member of a gang.

“And one of the best ways to do that is by intercepting communication that proves there is some sort of collusion taking place towards a particular criminal act.” De Freitas said there are gang leaders who end up in jail but are still running their operations in prison, making their prosecution moot. “This is why this bill is extremely important.”

He said some people may ask about jammers but he added that having these in place would mean the police would lose valuable information about acts that have been committed or are to be committed, and the players in the criminal world. He pointed out that the information intercepted from the prisons could be added to information gathered by the Strategic Services Agency.

“You would be able to then unravel the web and the hierarchy of the organisations that these individuals belong to whilst increasing the level of deterrence and possible prosecution.” He also said the prison officers bringing in contraband into prisons will know they can be prosecuted, and there is a level of protection for prison officers who have been complaining that hits were being taken out on their life from within the prisons.

He pointed out that in the bill interceptions are specific to the devices that are to be intercepted and the warrant will identify exactly what the authorities want to intercept. “So if it is that the interception technology that is being used happens to pick up anything else, then that cannot be disclosed or used for the particular case that you’re trying to build. And so it is not valuable in relation to what we are trying to do here and therefore the privacy of citizens’ communication can be effectively kept.”

He stressed that anything that helps to deal with the scourge of crime and can give information about the structure of organised gangs in TT and help eradicate what is taking place, is something that should not be taken lightly.