Hinds issues detention order for 'Tyson' under SoE regulations

A detention order has been issued for suspected gang leader Carlvin Lee.

Lee, who is also known as Calvin Lee and Tyson, has been under house arrest since he was released from police custody on January 4.

A gazetted legal notice on January 20, signed by National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds, advised that a detention order had been issued for Lee, of Tower 3, Apartment 57, Clifton Towers, St Paul Street, Port of Spain.

The order, dated January 17, 2025, was published as Legal Notice No 16 in the Trinidad and Tobago  Gazette.

According to the order, Lee was “credibly identified as the leader of a known criminal organisation known as the SIXX gang, and as the person planning and intending to execute violent retaliatory reprisals or other violent actions involving the use of high-powered weapons and explosives, following an attempted hit on his life and the murder of his associate Trevor Williams on December 28, 2024.”

Lee was arrested on December 30, two days after an attempt was made on his life when gunmen ambushed him and a group of men while leaving the Besson Street Police Station.

Lee, according to police, was the intended target when the gunmen waited outside the police station on December 28, 2024. Trevor Williams, who was accompanying Lee, was killed when the gunmen fired at the group as they left the station after Lee had signed the bail book.

A day later, Cleon Lugin, 37, Derron Calliste, 35, Kambon Omowale, 39, Garet Smart, and Ryan Lessey, 24, were killed in a suspected reprisal attack.

The following day, the state of emergency (SoE) was announced, after police told the government they had information of intended increased gang violence with the use of high-powered weapons.

The order said the detention was “necessary to provide for his preventive detention with a view to preventing him acting in a manner prejudicial to public safety or public order or the defence of TT.”

Lee is to be detained at the Eastern Correctional Rehabilitation Centre, Santa Rosa, Arima, or any other location as directed by the minister.

The detention was authorised under paragraphs 2 and 3 of the Schedule to the Emergency Powers Regulations, 2024, which grants the minister power to detain individuals without a warrant to prevent them from “acting in any manner prejudicial to public safety or public order or the defence of TT” and to provide for preventative detention.

After his house arrest, Lee’s attorney Pamela Elder, SC, questioned the legality of the move, as she said the provisions for the arrangement were “too wide, oppressive and unworkable.”

At a media briefing on January 10, ACP North West and Operational Support Richard Smith explained that house arrests under the emergency powers regulations were different from those ordered through the Administration of Justice (Electronic Monitoring) Act.

He added people placed under house arrest during this period would not be monitored using electronic monitoring bracelets, but rather through surveillance and routine checks by police.

Section 4(1) of the regulations gives the police commissioner authority to impose restrictions on individuals, including prohibiting them from being outdoors during specified hours without written permission; requiring them to notify authorities of their movements at designated times and in specific ways; preventing them from travelling without prior approval; ordering them to leave a particular location; or barring them from visiting certain places.

The first detention order under the emergency power regulations was made on January 12, for Shumba James, of Simon Trace, St Mary Village, Moruga. The order identified James as a credible suspect in various illegal activities, including planning targeted killings of individuals assisting the police in their investigations. The detention was deemed necessary to prevent James from acting in a manner prejudicial to public safety and order.