TTPS arrest bar owner, Sirju, for conducting business despite Covid-19 restrictions

Twenty-nine year old bar owner/operator Daryl Sirju was arrested and charged on Friday night by PC Ramlochan under the ‘Public Health (2019) Novel Coronavirus (2019-Cov) Regulations’, after allegedly conducting business at his establishment at the Southern Main Road, California.

A statement from the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) stated that: ‘acting on information received at the Police Operations Command Centre, a party of police officers proceeded to the location and found the bar opened for business and sales being conducted’.

Photo: Bar owner/operator Daryl Sirju was arrested under the Public Health Ordinance Covid-19 on Friday 27 March.
(Courtesy TTPS)

The recent Public Health Ordinance makes it an offence to ‘conduct the business of a bar’, whether or not the person is otherwise properly licensed. If guilty, Sirju faces a TT$50,000 fine and imprisonment for six months.

The TTPS claimed to have deployed several units of its Guard and Emergency Branch (GEB) throughout the Police Divisions in Trinidad. The exercise was done by Acting Assistant Commissioner Balram and coordinated by Acting Senior Superintendent Colin Hazel.

Patrols have increased throughout the country after numerous reports that persons were breaching the regulations.

On 25 March, The TTPS began visiting persons who were ordered to self-quarantine by the Ministry of Health. Many persons, according to the TTPS, were ‘assessed to be compliant, some have not’. Police have warned that breach of the quarantine order can be met with arrest and prosecution.

From Monday, only workers deemed to be ‘essential’ are allowed to leave their homes, with the exception of trips to stock up on food, medication, etc.

Photo: National Security Minister Stuart Young (left) and Police Commissioner Gary Griffith wave to the crowd during the 2020 Carnival.
(Copyright TTPS)
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One comment

  1. He should be fined to the fullest extent and made to serve as an example to the other fools who are flouting the law and getting away with it, unwittingly believing that their actions will cause no harm.

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