Hinds signs off on SoE instructions – 3 ordered detained

NATIONAL Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds has issued detention orders for three men under the emergency powers regulations 2024, which covers the ongoing state of emergency (SoE).

The minister’s order says Kevon Bocage of Tomato Trace, Diego Martin, has been “credibly identified as a trafficker of narcotics and illegal firearms, and intends to traffic high-powered assault rifles to criminal organisations to commit murder and to fuel an ongoing violent war by the said criminal organisations.”

The other order, also issued on January 28, identified Jonathan Caleb Jay Bushell, also known as Jonathan Bushell or Froggy, as someone “credibly identified as a person associated with a criminal organisation known as the Seven/7 Gang (Alien Faction) who has been recruited, and has the means, to carry out violent retaliatory reprisals involving the use of high powered associate.” He is from Jerningham Street, Belmont.

The third says, Ezekiel Morris, also called Daryle Morris or Eze or Easy, has been "credibly identified" as a person associated with the Seven/7 Gang (Alien Faction). The reason given for his detention was the same as Bushell's.

The detention orders, published as Legal Notice Nos 23, 24 and 25, in the Gazette, were made under Regulation 15. They were published on January 29.

The orders state that Bocage,Bushell and Morris will be detained to prevent them from acting in a manner prejudicial to public safety, public order, or the defence of Trinidad and Tobago.

They will be detained at the Eastern Correctional Rehabilitation Centre in Arima.

The detention orders are the latest action under the SoE declared on December 30 to address rising crime and threats to national security. Similar detention orders were issued for suspected gang leader Carlvin Lee.

Lee, who is also known as Calvin Lee and Tyson, on January 20 and Shumba James, of Simon Trace, Moruga, on January 12.

A third order was issued on January 24, for Joshua Roberts, also known as Jaffa or Jaffar, of Sangre Grande.

James was identified as a credible suspect in various illegal activities, including planning targeted killings of individuals assisting the police service in its investigations.

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 while he and a group of men were ambushed by gunmen while leaving the Besson Street Police Station.

Lee, according to police, was the intended target when gunmen waited outside the Besson Street Police Station on December 28. Trevor Williams, who was accompanying Lee at the time, 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. It was after this attack that the SoE was declared.

On January 13, the House of Representatives agreed to the Government’s motion to extend the SoE for three months.