Trinidad and Tobago has declared a state of emergency (SOE), nearly three months after it had ended a 105-day SOE to deal with criminal activities.
Police Commissioner, Allister Guevarro, described the events leading up to the declaration of the SOE as one of “grave concern” telling a news conference that on Thursday, the police had received intelligence reports “whereby organized criminal gangs with persons inside of the prisons and persons operating on the outside of the prisons have formed themselves into what I would want to term an organized crime syndicate”.
He said that the members of that syndicate were actively planning “to carry out assassinations, robberies and kidnappings.
“When I received this information it was most troubling to me (and) I had to approach the National Security Council last night and when I addressed the National Security Council, I later had a briefing with the Prime Minister (Kamla Persad Bissessar) and the Attorney General (John Jeremie)”.
He said in his discussions, he made a recommendation “with a heavy heart” for there to be a state of emergency in the country with emergency powers given to the police.
Guevarro, who is observing his first full month in the job, told reporters that President Christine Kangaloo last night signed the proclamation for the SOE “following which my men and myself would have hit the ground running”.
He said he has just returned from the Maximum Security prison at Golden Grove on the east west corridor “where I would have personally supervised the extraction of those gang leaders to be placed in another facility where they would not be housed”.
The top cop said that those gang leaders will now not have access to “the liberal communication that they were using to facilitate this reign of terror upon the great citizens of Trinidad and Tobago.
“Moreso, we have seen recent acts of kidnapping and homicides being perpetrated against our citizenry that we have been able to trace back to this organized crime syndicate, and as your Commissioner of Police, I cannot in all good conscience, stand before you at any given time, knowing what I know and not take definitive action against it”
The Police Commissioner said that since the proclamation of the SOE “my men have been in covert and overt operations throughout the country,” adding “this is not an SOE of reaction, it is an SOE of pro action”.
He said even while he was approaching the relevant authorities to take action, his men were dealing with those on the outside and he would not be drawn into giving the number of persons at the prisons who have been moved.
“We do not want to make these people famous,” he said, adding “just know that they are safely incarcerated in a place where communication is now limited.
Guevarro said he would not answer in the affirmative or not whether any member of the protective services are involved in the syndicate, saying “if I were to tell you no, I would be lying to you and the members of the public, because how else would…(the police) be finding phones inside of the same cells.
“There are persons who seem hell bent on facilitating the communication of these persons with the outside. So by removing them from this environment and placing them in one where they are much more secure, I can feel rest assured that communication link is broken.”.
The Police Commissioner said that since taking up office, his men had been able to take off the streets more than 30 firearms and placed before the courts several persons. He said they would be awarded for their actions.
Guevarro said that this SOE, coming on the hells of the previous one that had been declared during the administration of then prime minister Dr. Keith Rowley, has “absolutely nothing to do with any particular threat to a politician (or) any particular threat to a group of persons…
But he reiterated that “there is a group of criminals in our society, some of them behind bars and some of them on the outside, who have formed themselves into an amalgamated unit of organized crime syndicate and intend on wreaking havoc on the good citizens of Trinidad and Tobago.
The Police Commissioner said that while there will be no curfew in place, the police will have additional powers as in keeping with the SOEs of the past and would be allowed to enter homes and search without a search warrant.
He warned his officers against abusing the powers , reminding them of the consequences as spelt in out in the law regulating the TTPS.
“The persons who would have to be concerned are the criminals because this is what that particular SOE and emergency powers are geared to and aimed at targeting. So you the good citizens…have no reason to fear.
Earlier, in a statement, the TTPS had noted that while no curfew is recommended at this time, citizens were being urged “to remain calm, cooperate with law enforcement directives, and report any suspicious activity to the appropriate authorities.
“This network is actively mobilizing resources and orchestrating targeted attacks against senior officials and national institutions,” the TTPS said in its statement on Friday and that a “critical enabler of this threat has been the unauthorized trafficking of cellular devices into prison facilities by compromised personnel.
“These devices have facilitated encrypted communications and real-time coordination between incarcerated individuals and external criminal operatives. The funding for these operations is derived from a range of violent, as well as organized criminal activities, including high-value robberies, armed home invasions, extortion, kidnapping, and the infiltration of state funded contracts and programmes”
The police said that scale, coordination, and internal facilitation of these activities indicate an operational capability that exceeds the containment capacity of conventional law enforcement measures.
“As such, a comprehensive and immediate strategic response was required to safeguard national stability and protect public officials and institutions.”
In Trinidad and Tobago, a state of emergency can be initially declared for one month by the President. It can be extended by the House of Representatives in three-month increments, with a maximum aggregate extension of six months.
Further extensions beyond the initial six months require a resolution passed by both Houses of Parliament, with a three-fifths majority vote, and each extension cannot exceed three months.