Two senior members of the Royal Barbados Police Force will arrive in this country early next week, to assist the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service in its investigations surrounding the $22 million DSS scheme.

National Security Minister Stuart Young made the revelation this afternoon and says he is still awaiting confirmation from the UK regarding British investigators offering assistance.

Last evening, at a PNM Post Budget meeting, Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley spoke publicly on the investigation subject for the first time, calling the DSS “a cancer that will eat the soul of this nation” and a major threat to  Trinidad and Tobago’s national security.

The Prime Minister hinted that this had become necessary given allegations that TTPS officers and members of the Defence Force have personal interests in the matter. 

“The role of the police in that matter, the role of the defence force in that matter, the role of criminal gangs in that matter, completely unknown to the people of Trinidad and Tobago. And, I can tell you as head of the National Security Council, I have not had the simplest of answers,” he said. 

In a statement on Friday, Commissioner Griffith welcomed the inclusion of external investigators.

“This matter has gone very deep and if we can get that international assistance, because I have Trojan horses, and it goes very high up. So if this is an avenue that can assist me in bringing possible perpetrators to justice, especially those in uniform, I welcome that decision,” Griffith said. 

The foreign officers would not be consultants, but would be sworn in as Special Reserve Police Officers and would have the powers of the officers of the TTPS to assist in this investigation.