PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad — A police raid on the offices of the Newsday newspaper in Trinidad and Tobago and on the home of one of its senior reporters is viewed with grave concern by the government, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said in a statement on Friday.
Also on Friday, Newsday “strongly condemned” the police raid, which it said was a bid to force senior investigative, political and parliamentary reporter Andre Bagoo to reveal the source of information about his exclusive story on a row between the chairman of the Integrity Commission Ken Gordon and deputy chairman, Gladys Gafoor, who has now been suspended from membership of the Commission.
Newsday reported that the police, under the supervision of the head of the Anti-Corruption Investigations Bureau (ACIB) Senior Superintendent Solomon Koon Koon searched the newsroom for almost three hours as well as Bagoo’s home.
According to the Media Association of Trinidad and Tobago (MATT) president Kerry Peters, “The reporter, Andre Bagoo as I understand was treated like a criminal, his computer and other personal effects were seized and his home searched before he was taken in for questioning.”
