Public Utilities Minister Barry Padarath has confirmed his security detail was increased after a gangster allegedly confessed to police that a former government minister had offered him $250,000 to murder Padarath.

Padarath’s security detail has since been beefed up to include protection from the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) Special Branch.

The man, who was in police custody at the time on a different matter, provided a statement dated December 4, 2025, to officers at the Carenage Police Station in which he detailed his alleged meeting with the former minister regarding the hit.