Deputy Police Commissioner Glenn Hackett yesterday gave his investigators seven more days to complete the probe into a leaked Special Branch memo which claimed that the Prime Minister’s life was at risk.
In a telephone interview yesterday, Hackett said his investigators submitted an interim report and based on that report he offered then one further week to determine who leaked the confidential information which was posted on social media causing unnecessary panic last week.
While the leaked memo was confirmed to originate from senior officers at the Special Branch Unit by acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams, the contents which claimed that the Jamaat al Muslimeen was masterminding to murder PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar was deemed by Williams to be “just a rumour.”
Despite this security around the Prime Minister was increased following the leaked document.
The Special Branch correspondence claimed that members of the Jamaat al Muslimeen were transporting guns throughout the country and were planning to attack the PM’s private residence in Phillipine and Siparia and free 11 men who have been charged with the murder of Senior Counsel Dana Seetahal and those charged in the Vindra Naipaul-Coolman murder trial.
Williams said the memorandum, circulating via social media, was generated from the Special Branch and signed by an assigned superintendent and circulated last Tuesday around 6.15 pm to all field sections in Special Branch.
He said the rumour which generated the memo was not supported by facts when the officers did their investigations and the Special Branch would not have communicated anything to either him or the PM until the information was verified. Williams added that an investigation had been launched into the leak and Hackett had been given an August 3 deadline to report to him on the matter. He said appropriate action would be taken against the officer who breached the unit’s confidentiality but did not specify what that would entail.