Government is finalising paperwork to designate six T&T nationals and two foreigners as terrorists and is also examining the position with nine other people who are to return home, Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi has said.
He revealed the information about terrorist designation for the various people — a potential total of 15 — in Parliament yesterday.
Speaking during the 2017 budget debate, Al-Rawi said in the last year T&T had applied the “terrorist” designation, in keeping with international obligations, to 80 entities and was “on the cusp of designating a further 253.
“We are also in the process of drawing up the final papers to designate six nationals and two foreigners as terrorists and we are examining the position with nine locals who are bound to return to our shores,” he said.
Al-Rawi’s statement on the nine people would have been a reference to the nine who were detained in Turkey in July.
The group, including women and a child, were held with a Syrian national reported to have been taking them to join the ISIS terror network. The group was carrying T&T passports.
Government recently said no one locally had been inquiring about them and there was no word on when they would return “if indeed they were bona fide T&T nationals.”
Foreign Affairs Minister Dennis Moses, who attended the recent UN General Assembly, has asked his Turkish counterpart there to obtain information on the group.
Up to after Al-Rawi spoke, however, several Government officials said there was still no word. Moses did not answer calls.
Former National Operations Centre commander Garvin Heerah yesterday said the wait for information on the nine was “by far too long under international best practices on such a sensitive matter.”
He said Turkey had indicated no hesitation in complying with the United Nations Security Council’s anti-terrorism resolution (2014) which urged countries to take effective measures against foreign fighters.
Heerah added: “The resolution also asks members to do more to co-operate with one another and share criminal records or other information where appropriate.
“T&T along with Turkey having agreed to and signed the resolution are therefore expected to work hand-in-hand to accelerate information-sharing, records and intelligence in the war on terrorism.
“What is disturbing is there seems to be a delay in the process and regulated protocols that speak specifically to this situation.
“This delay illustrates our weakness as a country in our proactive planning and standardisation as it pertains to our foreign policies and strategies,” he said.