The Prime Minister and the National Security Council had no other option but to declare a state of emergency (SoE), as there was an imminent and escalating threat from organised criminal gangs.

So said Attorney General John Jeremie in a televised address on State-owned TTT yesterday just after 10 a.m., as he sought to explain Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and the National Security Council’s rationale for placing Trinidad and Tobago under another SoE.

The SoE was announced via the Prime Minister’s social media channels just before 4 a.m.