Trinidad and Tobago is now under a State of Emergency, following a proclamation by President Christine Carla Kangaloo, after a formal recommendation from Police Commissioner Allister Guevarro.
The SoE went into immediate effect with the President’s proclamation.
The following is the full text of the statement issued by the Police Service, in which it lays out the case for a SoE to be declared.
Declaration of a State of Emergency in Response to Coordinated National Security Threat
Recent intelligence has confirmed the emergence of a coordinated and highly dangerous criminal network operating from within Trinidad and Tobago’s correctional facilities.
This network is actively mobilizing resources and orchestrating targeted attacks against senior officials and national institutions. 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.
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.
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 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 foremost recommendation of the State of Emergency will empower law enforcement agencies to initiate rapid containment actions, enhance inter-agency coordination, and deploy additional resources with the necessary authority to neutralize the threat. No curfew is recommended at this time.
To operationalize 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.
An emergency briefing was given to the Prime Minister and Attorney General last night (July 17, 2025) 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. Citizens are urged to remain calm, cooperate with law enforcement directives, and report any suspicious activity to the appropriate authorities.