Hinds: 569 people arrested in SoE thus far

NATIONAL Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds has said the state of emergency (SoE) has been successful so far, with over 500 people arrested and a reduction in some serious crimes.

Speaking during debate in the Parliament on whether the SoE should be extended for another three months, he said the police had carried out 688 intelligence-led operations over the last 14 days.

“This has resulted in 569 arrests for drugs, and 13 per cent of the murders last year were as a result of drugs, so they’re paying particular attention to that; over gang turf; possession of army-type camouflage – that is what they use in some home invasions to mislead the occupants that it’s police and soldiers coming; shooting and robbery; firearms and ammunition; assaulting police officers; gang activities; larceny.”

He said there were 137 people in custody, as of the 569 arrests, some would have been charged and released.

“Even though you arrest, you charge, they go about their normal business and you maintain your focus on the gang operators to deal with the gang problem.”

Hinds said 3,915 searches had been done, with 32 firearms, 1,030 rounds of assorted ammunition, cocaine and different types of marijuana being seized.

“Kush marijuana, which sells at $25,000 a kilogramme, and creepy marijuana from Colombia, which sells at $27,000 a kilogramme and sells at $250 per gramme on the street. If that gets into the prisons, they sell it by the pinch at $200, so you can imagine the kind of money that turns over in the prisons?”

He said the traffic police had done 571 traffic operations and detected and charged people for 1,470 traffic offences, with 621 patrols being done by the highway patrols.

Hinds said there had been 577 murders in 2023 and 624 in 2024.

“In 2023, 261 of those 577 murders, or 45 per cent, were classified by the police as gang-related, and in 2024, 273 of the 624 murders, or 44 per cent, were classified as gang-related. The gangs therefore contribute the largest single variable to the murder figure on an annual basis. This SoE is targeted to deal with that.

“As the Prime Minister said, 93 of the murders last year were double, triple, quadruple and quintuple. What do we do again, do we wait? We’ve heard of the reprisals, we’ve done the SoE. Do we wait to get ten at a time?”

Hinds said the 12 murders this year had been classified: five as gang-related, one as domestic, three as robberies gone bad and three unknown. He said different types of crime require different types of policing.

He said there has been an 83 per cent drop in shootings and woundings, with four for the year to date in 2025 compared to 23 in 2024. He said there has been a 75 per cent drop in robberies, with 17 year-to-date in 2025 compared to 67 in 2024. There has been a 59 per cent drop in larceny of motor vehicles, with 11 year-to-date compared to 27 in 2024.

He said the public seems to be in full support of the SoE, other than the Opposition Leader and her followers.

Hinds called on the population to call the police if they saw someone or something suspicious in their areas.

Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal said the penalties imposed on people under the SoE can already be found under existing laws.

“This is really 'kick down the door and take,' because the police have existing powers under existing law, with reasonable suspicion, to conduct police activities, to search people and their car and do this and that.

"But the PM said the problem is the warrant, that they don’t have the power to go immediately into the house.”

He said while the government is asking for an extension, it has not said what has been achieved over the 14 days of the SoE to date. He asked how many of the activities which had taken place over the last 14 days were related to the intelligence which had sparked the SoE.

Moonilal said this is the first time an SoE has been called during an election year. He said a SoE means constitutional rights are suspended, while a great majority of citizens will be engaged.

“There is a door open here where you can abuse political activists, political opponents, those in opposition, to a standing opposition, candidates in an election, because you have suspended constitutional rights, you can go into anyone’s house without warrants, all those types of things, in an election year. That is a danger I wanted to point out.”

He said even though government had not suspended the rights to marches, protests and processions, some people feared they could be held for protesting and participating in these events.

Hinds said the Emergency Powers Regulations, 2024, did not mention anything about an election.

Moonilal said his constituents had not reported seeing more patrols, and the police had said they didn’t have enough resources.

Referring to media reports which said detention centres were unfit, Moonilal asked where people detained under the SoE were being held.

“Has there been anyone detained under these powers over the last 14 days? Is there a secret detention centre somewhere that they are holding people during this period, if they are not at any of the four designated centres? Where are the detainees?”

The House later approved a three-month extension of the SoE .