Police yesterday identified Gregory Lee Foon as the man who was found on Tuesday tied to a Trinmar offshore platform with several concrete blocks attached to his feet. Police investigators said they now believed his mafia-style killing was linked to the loss of a million-dollar cocaine shipment.
The T&T Guardian understands that due to the decomposed state op Lee Foon’s body, relatives were only able to identify him through a piece of steel that was placed in his hip following surgery after a vehicular accident. An autopsy done by Dr Hughvon des Vignes at the Forensic Science Centre, St James, yesterday confirmed he died from a gunshot wound to the back of the head.
Investigators said Lee Foon, 32, of Merrimac Road, Vessigny Village, La Brea, was reported missing over a week ago by his parents. He was last seen on October 17, wearing a cream T-shirt and a pair of brown three- quarter pants and had a small box with five keys in his pocket. Crime scene investigators recovered the box of keys and the key to his Toyota Corolla sedan but up to yesterday the car could not be found.
Investigators said he was heavily involved in the drug trade and suspected he could be one of several people who were killed over shipment of cocaine that went missing some months ago. They said he was also imprisoned in Venezuela on drug-related crimes a few years ago.
According to reports, Petrotrin’s Insp Samuel and other officers were aboard the passenger vessel Swift around 11.14 am when they saw Lee Foon’s body floating face down near Platform 11 in Trinmar’s Main Field in the Gulf of Paria. The body appeared to be hooked onto the platform with three concrete blocks tied to his feet.
Samuel contacted Point Fortin police and acting Sgt Corrie and other officers went the Trinmar base at Clifton Hill where members of the T&T Coast Guard had taken the body to land. The officers and district medical officer Dr Ameeral examined the body and observed the gunshot wound at the back of the head. Ag Sgt Cuffie of the Region Three Homicide Bureau is continuing investigations.
Fishermen rescued
Meanwhile, Petrotrin police rescued four fishermen who were found floating off the coast of La Brea yesterday morning. According to reports, the men had left Carli Bay on Tuesday night and while fishing in the Gulf of Paria their pirogue capsized and sank. The men drifted for hours until they were picked up by the Trinmar vessel around 4 am.