Shouting chants of Allahu Akbar, with tears streaming down his face and hugging his two sons, Dominic Pitilal was lost for words as he came out the arrival gate at the Piarco International Airport a free man last night.
Pitilal and Muslim brothers Wade Charles, Asim Luqman, Andre Battersby and Leslie Daisley had been arrested and incarcerated for 32 months at the Sebin facility in neighbouring Venezuela on suspicion of terrorism.
Wiping away tears from the eyes of his two elder sons, Idris, nine, and Zakariya, 11, Pitilal said it was an emotional time for his family.
"I tried to prepare for this. Now I can't even talk, I am dumbstruck," he said.
Pitilal did not go into details about his incarceration, but said he would reveal all in time.
"I am going to get to know my son," he said.
His last son, Muhamad, who was six months when he was arrested with his compatriots in Venezuela, looked at his father with a blank stare on his face.
"Do you know me? Do you know who I am?" he asked his son, as Muhamad stared at him with no emotion.
"I am glad this is over. I just want to go home and be with my sons who I don't know. I want to be a father once more."
Pitilal maintained his innocence, saying, "The whole world knew that we are innocent. The judge told us that in Venezuela, that we are innocent."
However, while at least four of the men walked away free from the airport last night, Charles was arrested and detained by police soon after he was debriefed by Immigration officials and taken to the San Fernando Police Station.
Head of the Islamic Front Umar Abdullah said they retained an attorney to determine on what grounds Charles was arrested. However, the T&T Guardian understands he was arrested on an outstanding warrant.
Charles' mother, Gloria Charles, screamed and shouted under the watchful eye of armed police officers as she condemned the arrest of her son on learning of his arrest.
"I am fed up with this Government," Charles said.
"These men are being treated as criminals. We are facing oppression in this country."
FOUR-HOUR INTERROGATION
On August 27, the charges against the Trinidadian detainees were dropped and they returned home yesterday around 2 pm, where they were detained and questioned for four hours by Immigration Division and officials from the Ministry of National Security.
The detention at the airport caused tempers to flare outside, as family members objected to them being delayed at the airport.
Expressing disgust was Pitilal's wife, Saadiqua Mohammed, who described their detention as ridiculous.
"They are saying that we are terrorists, but what they are doing these men here today is terrorising us. Enough is enough. Is three years we have been enduring this. This wait is longer than the three years."
She said she felt her husband would now become a target for the police.
She pointed out that before the state of emergency under the then People's Partnership government, her husband was being monitored by the police. She said she did not expect anything to change now.
Speaking briefly with the media, Luqman described his treatment in prison as "terrible." He said one of the problems that they faced in Venezuela was they could not get food to eat because of a national food shortage there due to ongoing economic woes.
"Now that I'm back home I'm looking forward to eating a hot doubles."