Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat wants game wardens to help their law enforcement colleagues more by tracking down the marijuana plantations and making busts across the country.
He made the comment at the induction ceremony for 139 honorary game wardens at the Caroni Swamp Visitors’ Centre yesterday.
Addressing the game wardens, Rambharat said: “What you’re doing out there is that you’re performing national security functions which are no different from a member of the T&T Police Service, an SRP, precepted officer, an officer of the Defence Force, Coast Guard or Customs and Excise Division.
“Our main concern rests with enforcement.”
He said the Forestry Division reported that between August-October 2016 they had dealt with over 230 offences, a 50 per cent increase over the same period in previous years.
He said ministry performs a series of law enforcement functions involving game wardens, forest officers and honorary game wardens and there were at least eight areas where these functions were performed.
Rambharat said many people didn’t realise that when Praedial Larceny Squad (PLS) officers went into the field it was not just for ripe fig, sheep and goats, adding that on an annual basis the officers dealt with over 1,200 matters unrelated to agriculture.
He said the officers were exposed to all the risks of law enforcement in a country that was beset by criminal behaviour and lawlessness.
He said no one could turn a blind eye to the proliferation of marijuana within the forest reserves and on state lands across the country in the Northern Range, Balata East, Moruga and Biche.
Rambharat said it was not just the trap guns, but the presence of well-armed people in the forests who were prepared to protect their turf.
He said it was for this reason he has asked for the Office of Law Enforcement Policy (OLEP) in the Ministry of National Security to become involved in the game wardens’ training.