PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Aug 27, CMC – A senior prisons official has been detained under the existing state of emergency (SoE) after he was identified as an associate of the Radical Islamic Criminal Gang and other networks.
According to a detention order gazetted on August 27, the officer is also accused of providing support to incarcerated gang leaders and members.
The authorities allege that by virtue of his position, the unnamed Prison Superintendent facilitated breaches of prison security, enabling contraband to reach inmates who were actively plotting violent attacks, including the imminent killing of public officials with high-powered rifles.
According to the detention order, the prison officer poses a “serious threat to public safety,” and continued to use his position of prison supervisor to assist gang members in co-ordinating activity despite their incarceration at the military prisons.
Last week, the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) said that it had detained two law enforcement officials as it continues to make significant inroads in dismantling criminal networks.
The police said that the two were among three suspects detained last Thursday under Preventative Detention Orders issued in accordance with the Emergency Powers Regulations, 2025 under the SoE.
More than 160 people have been detained since the SoE was imposed on July 18, after the police said they had uncovered a plot to destablise the country
Since the SoE was declared, Homeland Security Minister, Roger Alexander, has signed more than 50 preventive detention orders, targeting alleged gang leaders, enforcers, and facilitators. To date, 33 orders have been gazetted, including Rajaee Ali, his brother Hamid and Earl Richards, accused of leading and directing the Radical Islamic Criminal Gang from prison.
Legal notices claim Ali conspired with the GR8 Gang Alliance to carry out imminent assassinations of law enforcement officers and public officials.
On Monday, a High Court judge adjourned to September 5, a case in which Ali is challenging his transfer from the Maximum Security Prison (MSP) to barracks of the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force (TTDF) on the day a state of emergency (SoE) was declared here on July 18.
Ali has filed several challenges since his transfer and detention at the military bases in Chaguaramas, west of here, under the existing SoE, claiming that he is being held in inhumane conditions and denied basic rights.
But when his latest challenge came up before Justice Westmin James, the court was informed that Ali has since been served with a preventative detention order under the SoE and was executed on August 19.
Police Commissioner Allister Guevarro has warned that, “the TTPS will use every lawful measure available under the state of emergency to disrupt and dismantle criminal syndicates.
“The TTPS is acting strategically and intentionally, which sends a clear message that the police service will do what is necessary to ensure that the rule of law will prevail.”
Meanwhile, Defence Minister Wayne Sturge has confirmed that a threat had been made against his life even though he did not report the matter to the police.
“The threat is real,” Sturge told the Trinidad Guardian newspaper on Wednesday, adding that the threat on his life “was communicated to me by a senior investigator based on intelligence they received”.
The newspaper said that the threat against Sturge is allegedly linked to his refusal to install hand-picked personnel in state and constituency-level positions and that among the alleged conspirators are a lawyer with close ties to the United National Congress (UNC) led coalition administration, two illegal quarry operators, and a senior military officer.
Police and military intelligence agencies reportedly identified a “real and present danger” to Sturge and his relatives, prompting heightened security measures to be implemented.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar confirmed that threats had been made against Public Utilities Minister, Barry Padarath and Local Government Minister, Khadijah Ameen, over their stance against corruption in the Unemployment Relief Programme and the Community-Based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (CEPEP).
CMC/ag/ir/2025