Prisoners Allan “Scanny” Martin, Hassan Atwell and Christopher Selby allegedly brokered a million-dollar deal with senior prison officers to secure their freedom from the Port-of-Spain prison last Friday.
The two senior prison officers are alleged to have been directly involved in the plot that eventually sprung the three prisoners but subsequently ended in the deaths of Martin, Atwell and police officer PC Sherman Maynard.
According to an intelligence source, police and prisons officials probing the case have received information that guns, ammunition and an undisclosed amount of cash were smuggled into the prison minutes before the planned escape was executed.
It is believed that the items were smuggled in during a special visit by a junior prison officer.
The T&T Guardian also received information that at the time of the prison break, one of the key men charged for Dana Seetahal’s, SC, murder was about to get a visit.
A third senior prison officer is also closely being monitored by security officials for his possible link to the Jamaat-al-Muslimeen.
It is alleged that this prison officer may be responsible for smuggling contraband items, including arms, ammunition, money and cellphones, into the prison for prisoners connected to the Jamaat-al-Muslimeen.
Speaking to the T&T Guardian last night, another intelligence source said the investigating team was looking closely at seven-minute video taken from CCTV footage at the facility which actually shows the identities of some of the prison officers believed to have some sort of knowledge that the prison break was about to go down.
Up to yesterday, several guards at the Port-of-Spain prison had already been interviewed by investigating police and prison officials.
A prison source, who wished not to be identified, yesterday questioned the nature of the prison break, noting it was too well planned for the escapees not to have had help from the inside.
The source said: “If this wasn’t planned how come the prisoners were not handcuffed? How come no body receipts were made?
“Body receipts are given when one prisoner is being moved from one section of the prison to another section. For instance, if someone comes to visit a prisoner, the name is given to prison officers at the front section, who will then call the cell block to speak with officers there.
“They will alert the prisoner and give them time to get ready for the visit. The prisoner will then be taken out of the cell handcuffed and brought to another set of officers. There, a body receipt will be given and the prisoner handed over to other officers who will escort him straight into the visitors’ room.”
The source added: “In this case, as seen in the video circulating on social media, none of the prisoners were handcuffed. They were just there having access to guns and the keys to the main door. This is clear that this was planned and officers and prisoners knew about the prison break, no doubt.”
CNC3 also last night reported that moments before the planned prison break was executed, a high-profile prisoner approached a senior prison official and told him to move to avoid allowing Martin and Atwell’s special visits simultaneously. However, before the prison official arrived downstairs, the visits were already happening. When he attempted to alert his colleagues to stop them, the men were already shooting their way out of the prison.
Last Friday at about 12.30 pm Atwell, Selby and Martin pointed guns at prison officers on duty. Martin got the keys to the front gate, which he opened for them to run out onto Frederick Street.
PC Maynard was shot as the escapees targeted the vehicle he was sitting in. Maynard subsequently died at hospital.Martin was later killed by police at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital.
Atwell and Selby escaped but Atwell was gunned down on Saturday night at East Dry River, Port-of-Spain. On Sunday, Selby surrendered at the Barataria Police Station.