Trinidad and Tobago Declares State of Emergency Over Assassination Plot

Trinidad and Tobago declared a state of emergency Friday after authorities discovered an alleged assassination plot orchestrated by a criminal network operating within the country’s prison system to kill key government officials and attack public institutions, Euronews reported. 

After months of intelligence gathering, investigators said the intended targets were senior police officers, members of the judiciary, and staff at the state prosecutor’s office. No specific threats were directed at politicians, according to the authorities. 

Police said that the individuals allegedly involved in the plot communicated through encrypted messages sent via smuggled mobile phones. They described them as “a coordinated and highly dangerous criminal network.”  

“They were planning, actively so, to carry out assassinations, robberies, and kidnappings,” police commissioner Allister Guevarro said.  

Afterward, newly elected Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar declared a state of emergency for 15 days, the Trinidad & Tobago Guardian newspaper noted.  

The state of emergency grants police the authority to carry out warrantless searches and arrests. 

The gang leaders believed to be connected to the plot have been held in a maximum-security prison in eastern Trinidad, where smuggled phones and illicit communication have been persistent issues.  

Authorities say they have now been transferred to an unidentified facility. Guevarro also added that recent kidnappings and homicides targeting citizens have been traced back to this organized crime syndicate, according to Sky News. 

This is the second state of emergency that Trinidad and Tobago has declared in less than a year: The first, in December, was issued because of escalating gang violence and lasted for four months.  

The southern Caribbean country, which has a population of about 1.4 million, reported 624 killings in 2024, its deadliest year on record.