PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, (CMC) – Police Commissioner, Allister Guevarro, has formally recommended to the Trinidad and Tobago government the need to declare a state of emergency (SOE) after indicating that recent intelligence “has confirmed the emergence of a coordinated and highly dangerous criminal network” operating from within the country’s correctional facilities.

The police said no curfew is recommended at this time,  but urged citizens “to remain calm, cooperate with law enforcement directives, and report any suspicious activity to the appropriate authorities.

“This network is actively mobilising resources and orchestrating targeted attacks against senior officials and national institutions,”  the Trinidad and  Tobago Police Service (TTPS) said in a statement on Friday.

It said that “in response to the severity and immediacy of this threat, the Commissioner of Police, Allister Guevarro, has formally recommended to the Government of Trinidad and Tobago the declaration of a State of Emergency”.

According to the TTPS, the intelligence reveals that incarcerated individuals are actively leveraging internal and external networks to plan and execute attacks on key figures within the national security and justice sectors.

“These efforts are not isolated but represent a structured campaign involving multiple criminal entities whose targets include senior police officers, members of the judiciary, personnel within the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), and officers of the Trinidad and Tobago Prison Service. Additional intelligence continues to be gathered through inter-agency collaboration.”

The TTPS said that a “critical enabler of this threat has been the unauthorised 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 organised 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.”

The TTPS said that the foremost recommendation of the SOE “will empower law enforcement agencies to initiate rapid containment actions, enhance interagency coordination, and deploy additional resources with the necessary authority to neutralise the threat”.

The police said that to operationalise the response, a high-level Threat Response Group from various arms of law enforcement was established with a specific mandate to treat with this threat and its actors.

It said that an emergency briefing was given to the Prime Minister and Attorney General on Thursday night and “immediate steps were taken to enact containment, the strategic removal, and relocation of key incarcerated individuals, so as to disrupt command structures and prevent further coordination.

“Additionally, law enforcement units have already begun targeted overt and covert operations, which shall continue until the threat is neutralised.

“The Trinidad and Tobago Police Service remains resolute in its commitment to protecting the nation’s democratic institutions and the safety of its citizens. These extraordinary measures are necessary to preserve public order, restore confidence in our national security framework, and ensure the continued stability of the country”, the police added.