PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – A schoolboy is among 23 people who have been issued with Preventive Detention Orders (PDOs) under the existing state of emergency (SoE) as part of ongoing efforts to contain violent criminal activities.
The schoolboy, whose name is being withheld as he is a minor, was identified by police intelligence as someone who was involved in “gang conflict and retaliatory firearm violence,” as part of organized crime groups in Guapo, La Brea, and Point Fortin in southwest Trinidad.
According to the notice published in the official edition of the Gazette on Tuesday, the school boy was involved in an incident this year where he was seen encouraging another person to fire a gun at a victim.
The boy, who was ordered to be placed in custody at the Youth Training and Rehabilitation Center, is the second teen to be held using a PDO following the detention of a 16-year-old in March.
The authorities said that Nisha Seepersad, who has been identified as a member of an informal crime group involved in robbery and extortion, was also detained using the PDOs. The notice claimed Seepersad and others pretended to be senior officers in the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) to threaten or demand money from victims.
“The detainee and others intend to escalate these activities and target private citizens and police officers using violent and unlawful means with a view to harming members of the public to continue and/or amplify their harmful activities,” the notice reported.
Other PDOs were issued for Akil “Sparta” Telesford and Jamyl De Gazon, who were identified as alleged gang leaders from Enterprise, Chaguanas, and El Socorro.
Telesford was described as being the leader of a gang on Tobago Road, while De Gazon was described as the leader of the Seven gang in Barataria. Also listed among the batch were Kester “Six” Dolly and Kevon Kamalloo “Kel” Reed, described as being part of a gang involved in home invasions, robberies, and thefts where elderly people were specifically targeted.
The authorities have also detained two women, including a businesswoman described as a financier connected to the operations of a gang which intends to carry out reprisal attacks on rivals in public spaces using high-powered rifles.
The PDOs say one of the women is a credible financier of a gang, a member of a kidnapping gang, and plays a facilitative role, who the order states is linked to serious violent offenses, including firearm-related activity, and that her continued liberty presents a danger to public safety and the integrity of ongoing investigations.
The Trinidad and Tobago government has defended the imposition of yet another state of emergency (SoE) less than two months after a more than year-long similar measure had been lifted, even as the opposition questioned the motive behind this new declaration.
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