TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO COMPUTERS STOLEN FROM CANDIDATE Trinidad News, Trinidad Newspaper, Trinidad Sports, Trinidad politics, Trinidad and Tobago, Tobago News, Trinidad classifieds, Trinidad TV, Sports, Business

A conspiracy against me, complains candidate Smith Julien Neaves jneaves@trinidadexpress.com Monday, November 5th 2007

United National Congress (UNC) Alliance candidate for Laventille East/Morvant Lennox Smith has alleged that the theft of two computers from his constituency office on Saturday is part of a conspiracy against him. Smith, speaking to the Express yesterday, claimed that the theft was not an isolated incident and linked it to a series of other incidents, including the murder of UNC activist Sean Douglas last month, the tearing down of posters off his campaign car and fraud allegations by his former wife Hazel Guerra, which she later said were fabricated. Smith said these incidents cannot be "coincidental". His party, Laventille for Laventillians (LFL), said in a statement yesterday that the computers were stolen while staff and security personnel were away at the UNC Alliance's rally on Saturday. LFL is one of several parties in the UNC Alliance. LFL noted that Smith's campaign manager Vaughn Caton discovered the computers missing upon returning to the Sylbert Street office at around 7 p.m. and reported the matter to the Besson Street police, who visited the crime scene that night and were expected to return yesterday to conduct further enquiries. The two computers contained "very sensitive information" of names of polling agents - some of whom are employed in the Community-Based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme and Unemployment Relief Programme - and the camp's strategy for winning the elections including the election day programme. Smith described the theft as a "tremendous blow" to his campaign but noted that he remained undaunted. Besson Street CID are continuing investigations.