Rhondor Dowlat-Rostant
Just under 18 months after one of the country’s biggest high-powered weapons and marijuana seizures in Central Trinidad, one of the accused was gunned down on Friday during a drive-by shooting in Laventille.
According to a police report, some time after 6 pm Dwayne “D Boss” Thomas, 33, of Sandy Way, Fairways, Maraval was killed during a drive by shooting at Snake Valley. Thomas, who was jointly charged with Ricardo Harewood, of Sixth Avenue, Malik, Barataria; Dwayne Havelock, of Claxton Bay and Crighton Johnson, of Santa Cruz, were out on bail after a total of $3.8 million in bail was secured after their court appearance before Chief Magistrate Maria Busby-Earle-Caddle in the Port-of-Spain Magistrates’ Court in April 2019.
The three co-accused were allegedly associates of Thomas and besides being charged for drug trafficking, each man was also charged under the Anti-Gang Act.
Thomas was charged with organising, planning and facilitating a gang in committing the offence, while the others were charged with providing support to a gang by assisting in trafficking the drugs.
On November 8 2018, police officers of the Special Operations Response Team (SORT) and several specialised units led by Police Commissioner Gary Griffith raided an apartment located at Macaya Trace, Munroe Road, Cunupia.
During the raid, officers found and seized a large cache of assault rifles and over 80 kilogrammes of marijuana with a street value of just over $1 million.
Thomas and another man, Jerome Oliverrie, were allegedly held during the raid, but only Oliverrie was initially charged for the drugs and the guns, as Thomas was released pending further investigations. Oliverrie had also been released on $1 million bail.
Thomas was said to have owned two freight companies and a vessel.
That matter is still pending before the Court.