Prison officer held under SoE detention order

Commissioner of Police Allister Guevarro. - File photo

A prison officer has been detained on allegations of gang involvement, security sources confirmed.

Sources told Newsday, the officer was held on August 21 between 9 pm and 10 pm, and was taken to the Eastern Correctional and Rehabilitation Centre (ECRC) in Santa Rosa. His current location is unknown at this time, as he is expected to be questioned by the police.

National security sources indicated he was held under a preventive detention order. On August 20, a police officer was also detained on a similar order. He reportedly has longstanding allegations of illicit activity against him, including alleged trips to Venezuela to procure illegal items. He was asked to take a polygraph test, which he refused, and was later transferred to a station in the North Eastern division in 2021. The transfer was intended to curb his alleged activities, but intelligence suggested they continued.

Sources said the prison officer had ties to a suspected gang leader detained at Teteron Barracks, Chaguaramas, and was accused of helping smuggle contraband into the facility.

A security breach at Staubles Bay forced authorities to shuffle some high-risk inmates back to Teteron.

Some inmates, all classified as high-risk and accused of plotting murders, kidnappings, and gang wars from behind bars, were yanked out of Staubles Bay on August 21, after it was uncovered that contraband was smuggled into the coast guard’s headquarters.

The prisoners, just one short of a dozen, were originally removed from Building 13 at the Maximum Security Prison, Arouca, on July 18, the very day a state of emergency was declared after intelligence exposed a deadly conspiracy to assassinate police, prison officers, and even members of the judiciary.

The men were shifted three weeks later from Teteron to Staubles Bay until this latest breach. Both military bases were declared official prisons under Legal Notice No 250, giving the army legal authority to cage the men under the Prisons Act.

Now back inside Teteron, the inmates are in a location so sealed off that not even a cellphone signal can escape.

A similar breach took place weeks ago involving an attempt to smuggle cellphones to the army base. This led to amendments to the scope of the emergency powers regulations being widened to include a broader range of prohibited items, introduce new legal definitions, and specifically target the smuggling of contraband into prisons. It is now an offence to possess any prohibited article if there is a reasonable suspicion it has been in a prison, is intended for a prisoner, or is meant to be smuggled into a prison by any means.

So far, 33 detention orders have been gazetted for alleged gang leaders and members. A tribunal established to receive requests from detainees for a review of their detention has received three applications.

Commissioner of Police Allister Guevarro confirmed the detention of the two law enforcement officers.

“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 send a clear message that the police service will do what is necessary to ensure that rule of law will prevail.”

He said the detentions underscored the police’s intelligence apparatus and its capacity to act decisively against those seeking to destabilise the country.