AMIDST damning revelations which continue to surface from allegedly ‘shady characters’ regarding murders and high-profile criminal activities that occurred before and after 2002, Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, on Friday last, assured the media that protection would be provided for the proverbial “whistleblowers”.

This comment comes at a time when self-professed former ‘death squad’ member Shawn Hinds has revealed that he took instructions from senior police officials at the Police headquarters of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) in relation to criminal activities that took place during and after 2002.

In an exclusive interview with Travis Chase of the ‘HGP Nightly News’, Hinds admitted the following:

“Years ago, they said I was in some killing squad. I would not sit here and deny that. If I wasn’t a part of a killing squad, this country wouldn’t have had law and order…because there was Shawn Brown and Dale Moore and Chip Teeth.”

One startling disclosure made by Hinds was that all of his orders in relation to criminal activities — which included killings — came from CID. He told Chase that he was supplied with a machine gun, and was instructed how to carry out his operations.

“I used to go and uplift a gun from CID headquarters — a machine gun. So this thing is not no one-sided affair…We were guided and we were in communication with senior people from CID headquarters,” he said.

Reiterating that their orders came directly from CID headquarters, Hinds added that he has in his possession communication containing instructions and how the killings should be done. He, however, did not specifically say whether he had killed anyone during that time.

The latest episode regarding criminal activities came just last week, when the bodyguard of former Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, was fingered in the shooting death of political activist Courtney Crum-Ewing on March 10, 2015. Crum-Ewing was shot in Diamond, East Bank Demerara (EBD) while urging residents to vote for the coalition comprising A Partnership for National Unity + the Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) at the upcoming polls.

Crum-Ewing’s murder suspect, Rajput Narine, who was allegedly ‘ratted out’ by the first suspect — Regan Rodrigues, known as ‘Grey Boy’ — was held for questioning earlier last week.

According to reports, prior to the gunning down of Crum-Ewing, Narine had allegedly approached Grey Boy with an offer of several million dollars to execute an Opposition activist, but the offer was refused.

Police sources are maintaining that ‘Grey Boy’, who was apprehended on July 17, is the trigger-man who sent the activist to his grave.

Following this alleged revelation, Nandlall sought to distance himself from any form of personal affiliation with Narine, explaining that his employment as a personal bodyguard came five days after the death of Crum-Ewing.

The former AG related that, prior to his employing Narine as his bodyguard, on March 15 of this year, he had never seen or spoken to Narine. He said Narine’s employment came from a recommendation made by Narine’s brother, who is one of Nandlall’s acquaintances. However, Nandlall said, Narine’s employment as bodyguard to the then AG ended prematurely because he, Nandlall, was dissatisfied with the quality of services provided by Narine.

In light of these revelations, and more which are expected to reach the public domain, Harmon told he media, following a political meeting held at Stabroek Market Square on Friday evening, that if people are prepared to deliver to the police and Government information which could lead to the capture of these notorious figures, then the kind of protection needed would certainly be provided to them.

“But like I said (on Thursday) (that) if persons are part of the criminal enterprise and they were involved or engaged in killing people and murdering people, then they will have to face the music too,” the Minister of State declared.

He added that there are arrangements in the structure of the Ministry of Public Security which can be activated to provide protection for individuals who would be at risk if they disclose information which could be relevant to criminal activities.

“So we are prepared to give the kind of protection to persons who are going to give us information that is going to lead to the arrest of these criminals,” Harmon reiterated, and added that these disclosures can essentially lead to who the intellectual authors of crime in this country really are.

As it relates to Hinds’ situation and whether amnesty would be provided, Harmon told reporters on Wednesday last: “If he discloses his connection with any criminal activity, he can look forward to some period of incarceration; but I am not offering any amnesty whatsoever to anybody who admittedly is involved in a criminal activity or criminal activities… Any such arrangement will have to be made with the police and the relevant authorities.”

By Ravin Singh