Tobago patrons pray for DSS owner

A few people who already registered or hoped to register with Drugs Sou Sou (DSS) turned up at the money lender’s Tobago registration office at Shepherds Inn, Old Store Bay Local Road, early on Saturday.

They said they had already received the news that the founder, Kerron Clarke would not conduct business as DSS’s business documents were seized by police during a raid earlier in the week in La Horquetta.

However, at least five people said they wanted to see for themselves that Clarke was not coming to Tobago. No one wanted to appear on camera.

One person who gave her first name as Nikita said she had “invested” her funds and already received her payout and was back to do transactions on behalf of three friends.

“I put this situation in God’s hands asking God if Clarke is clean and honest, to help him out, and God’s will be done,” the Bethel woman told Guardian Media.

A Tobagonian man living in Trinidad said he flew to Tobago on Friday morning to register with DSS. He gave his name as Anton.

He said he, too, wanted God to bring some “justice to the system.”

“I trying to figure out what is the real issue. DSS is by far not the only issue of this type, so why him? I light my candle last night and said a prayer already. If it’s good and his intentions honest the business will succeed.”

Hours earlier, Clarke had addressed his clientèle on Instagram. He said police seized business records and funds, and personal records. He also said JMMB- his business bankers, closed his account and issued him a cheque for the amount.

He said the last police raid on his La Horquetta headquarters caused him to put a “temporary” hold on operations. He said funds seized during the second raid were held by police for an extended period as an Arima magistrate had granted a detention order.

After the first raid at DSS on September 21, when $22 million seized by police was returned in hours, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley referred to the incident as “cancer that can eat the soul of the nation.”

British and Barbados investigators are currently part of the police probe into DSS.

It was to be DSS’s fourth successive registration exercise in Tobago. They officially launched on October 10 but began operations on October 3.