SENIOR police sources say they are confident at least 14 people who were held under the authority of a Preventive Detention Order (PDO) during the State of Emergency (SoE), will be charged before it expires.
The SoE began on December 30 and will end on April 13 as Parliament must meet to vote on an extension, but cannot as it has been prorogued in light of the upcoming April 28 general election.
The 14 unnamed prisoners are allegedly affiliated with two particular gangs and will face multiple gang-related offences.
Although there are only 49 gazetted detention orders, police say 50 people have been detained since the start of the SoE.
Revised detention orders by National Security Minister Marvin Gonzales, gazetted on April 8, revealed 20 of the SoE detainees have been ordered to be removed from the Eastern Correctional Rehabilitation Centre (ECRC) in Santa Rosa, Arima, to the remand prison at Golden Grove, Arouca.
Those ordered to be moved from the ECRC to the remand prison are: Josiah Gomes, Marlon Boodram, Shane Benito, Joven Gomes, Allimudeen Sackoor, Declan Ross, Deshon Ruben, Jalon Frederick, Jonathan Bushell, Julio Noel, Justin Gomes, Kevin Paynter, Malcolm Byer, Nehemiah Joseph, Nigel Scott, Reon Thomas, Shumba James, Stephon Seetal, Tyereeke Williamson, and Ezekiel Morris.
The latest gazetted orders did not give a reason for the move but did cite paragraph 3 of the schedule to the emergency powers regulations 2024 which allows for any person for whom a detention order is in force to be detained 'in such place and under such conditions as the minister may from time to time direct.'
At a media briefing on April 8, acting DCP Curt Simon said the police were working to finalise charges against some of the detainees.
Contacted on April 10, Simon praised the officers involved in the investigations.
'Gang offences (investigations) are always tricky, it's always intricate, it's always complex. So I applaud the skill and dexterity of the officers who gathered the evidence and brought us to this stage.'
He defended the length of time the investigation took saying it even surpassed international standards for investigations of this nature.
'Gang investigations usually take, from beginning to end, between 18 to 24 months to bring down any gang and having persons arrested.
'We were building intelligence on them before, but the SoE has allowed the investigations to proceed a lot more rapidly.'
He declined to name the 14 that would be charged and said there was no association between the recent moving of detainees and the readiness to lay charges.
Simon noted although the other detainees would be freed on April 13, police could continue their investigations and bring charges against them at a later date.
Reiterating comments he made at a media briefing on April 8, he said the end of the SoE did not mean the end of the investigations.
'I did indicate that these inquiries are not completed. So even for those who will not be charged before the end of the SoE, we are continuing our efforts to
