The Caribbean republic of Trinidad and Tobago has declared a state of emergency in response to a rise in gang violence over the weekend.

The declaration gives police additional powers to curb retaliatory killings and other gang-related activities.

“The declaration and declaration of a public state of emergency is not taken lightly,” Acting Attorney General Stuart Young said at a news conference Monday.

He explained that information from the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service “dictated and dictated the need for this extreme measure that we took this morning.”

The state of emergency empowers the country’s police to arrest people “on suspicion of involvement in illegal activities.” It will also allow law enforcement to “search and enter both public and private premises” and suspend bail.

A government statement said no curfew would be imposed and freedom to meet publicly or demonstrate at marches would not be restricted.

Young said a spike in violence over the weekend in the capital Port of Spain contributed to a state of emergency being declared in the early hours of Monday.

“You will recall that shortly after 3 p.m. on Saturday there was a shooting involving a large-caliber automatic weapon outside the Besson Street police station,” Young said.

Local media described the shooting as an ambush.

A suspected gang leader, Calvin Lee, had arrived at the police station to sign bail, but as he and his entourage left, The Daily Express reported that gunmen emerged from a nearby van and began shooting.

One person was killed. Lee himself managed to escape. But Young said the shooting led to retaliatory killings between local gangs.

Six people were shot at in Laventille, a suburb of Port of Spain, within 24 hours, he said. Five of them were killed. Young said further retaliatory attacks are still expected.

“In and around certain locations in Trinidad and Tobago, increased reprisals from criminal elements are expected, which immediately vindicated us and moved us away from what we can consider normal,” he explained.

He declined to name specific locations where gang activity might be concentrated.

“But I can say that criminal gangs across Trinidad and possibly Tobago are likely to immediately increase their brazen acts of violence in the form of retaliatory shootings to such a degree that they threaten individuals and endanger public safety.”

Young added that the decision to declare a state of emergency was due in part to the use of high-profile weapons in the attacks, which increased the possibility of bystander deaths.

He noted the involvement of AK-47s and AR-15s.

“Over the last month or so and leading up to it, the government has been concerned about the use of high-powered, illegal firearms – high-profile firearms, including automatic weapons, which unfortunately are a scourge across the Caribbean region. ” said Young.

Caribbean countries do not produce firearms themselves and many of the weapons used in gang violence were imported illegally.

One source in particular stands out: the United States. It is the largest arms exporter in the world.

In March, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute found that about 42 percent of global arms exports came from the United States.

A 2017 Small Arms Survey analysis also found that the U.S. had the largest number of private firearms per capita, with U.S. civilians owning 40 percent of all firearms worldwide.

Weapons from the United States have been linked to crimes across the Caribbean, from Haiti and Jamaica to Trinidad and Tobago.

The US has worked with 13 Caribbean countries to stop the illegal firearms trade. Between 2018 and 2022, an estimated 7,399 firearms collected from crimes in the region were sent to the United States for traceability.

In October, the US Government Accountability Office released a report with its findings. Of all the firearms seized and traced during this four-year period, a total of 5,399 – or 73 percent – ​​came from the United States. A few hundred more had unclear origins.

The proliferation of illegal firearms has been linked to increasing violence in the Caribbean. Trinidad and Tobago, for example, is struggling with a record murder rate.

According to government figures, there were 61 homicides in December alone. So far in 2024, the country has recorded a total of 623 homicides.

“263 of those were gangs,” National Security Minister MP Fitzgerald Hinds said during Monday’s press conference.

“That is why we believe that this declaration of public emergency serves to confront criminals and allow law enforcement easier access to them, given the crises they have brought to this country.”