National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds said while four new gangs were formed between 2019 and 2021, the total number of gangs declined from 211 to 130.

Hinds was responding to an urgent question in Parliament from Naparima MP Rodney Charles.

“Intelligence gathered by the TTPS revealed that four new gangs were formed in TT since 2019.

“However, the number of gangs was estimated to have declined to decline to 130, with a membership of 1,014 people as at 2020.”

In 2018, the Commissioner of Police indicated there were 211 criminal gangs with 2,400 members.

Charles went on to ask if the number of gangs declined without the passage or proclamation of the Anti-Gang Act, whether that Act was necessary to achieve the decline.

The Speaker of the House did not allow the question.

A further question as to the number of people under 18 who had been identified as being gang members as of March 2021 was deferred for two weeks.