By Sue-Ann Wayow

CRIMINAL elements are refusing to back down but law enforcement is increasing in deterrent efforts.

Attorney General John Jeremie on Monday revealed in Parliament that two drones infiltrated the Teteron Barracks, where some inmates from the Maximum Security Prison in Arouca were removed at the beginning of the State of Emergency (SoE) last week.

Jeremie gave the assurance that the matter was dealt with by the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force.

He was speaking on the motion put forward by him to extend the SoE for a further 90 days in the House of Representatives during a special sitting.

“I’ve been cleared to say that the locations that the problematic inmates were removed to very recently, were also infiltrated by two drones. That’s what I’ve been permitted to say. The Defence Force, which has custody of those areas, dealt with that situation,” he said.

Jeremie also said the SoE was not a crime plan but a measure to deal with an immediate and real threat.

He said, “This is not a crime plan. We do not say that it is a crime plan. It is an urgent necessary measure to give law enforcement the powers they need to dismantle a criminal enterprise that threatened the security of the state. That enterprise was determined to assassinate persons in critical positions in this country.”

Such information was shared with those individuals.

Jeremie said, “The groups outside of prison who take instructions from their leaders who are inside of the prison are armed to the T. They possess explosives.. the gangs are uniting to do things…

“Today our republic faces an unprecedented convergence of organised criminal forces that threatens not just our public safety but the very foundations of the democracy.

“Despite historic rivalries, members of gangs that previously would have had nothing to do with each other are now in some cases united, in other cases uniting to form a singular coordinated method of attacking institutions of the state.”

Jeremie also admitted that prisoners alone were not to be blamed.

“All of these things are enabled by corrupt officer/inmate collusion networks and growing black market economies operating in prisons. High-risk inmates in particular exploit the system through bribery – there’s a lot of money passing hands in prison collusion, fearmongering against officers who resist involvement in illegal activities,” he said.

Jeremie said, “The insidious influence erodes the professionalism of corrections staff, undermining our national ability to contain violent actors. Officers, visitors and drones are used for smuggling and strategic coordination of contraband drops, reinforcing sustainability of these criminal networks.”