The Gist
A Preventive Detention Order is an emergency powers measure that allows authorities in Trinidad and Tobago to hold individuals without criminal charge, and as of July 7, 2026, Blue Waters bottled water owner Dominic Hadeed and his wife Genevieve have filed a court appeal challenging their detention under such orders, which allege—but have not proven—a conspiracy to assassinate Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and other senior government officials.
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What Happened
Blue Waters Products Ltd owner Dominic Hadeed, 52, his wife Genevieve, 42, and her maternal aunt Star Sabga were arrested in late June 2026 and placed under Preventive Detention Orders (PDOs) signed by Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander under Trinidad and Tobago's Emergency Powers Regulations, 2026.
The PDOs allege the three were involved in an ongoing conspiracy to assassinate Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, the Attorney General, and other senior government officials.
Dominic and Genevieve Hadeed were arrested at their Bayshore, Westmoorings home on June 24—the same day search warrants were issued and signed by High Court Master Valena Guerra Abraham. Sabga was detained the following day. All three were subsequently transferred from police stations to prison facilities: Dominic to the Remand Prison at Golden Grove, and Genevieve and Sabga to the Women's Prison at Golden Grove.
On July 7, the couple filed a court appeal challenging the legality of their detention, firmly denying all allegations. Their filing states: "There is no and can be no evidence of any plot by the Claimants to murder any person because there was no such plot."
The Hadeeds argue their detention amounts to political retaliation targeting members of Trinidad's Syrian-Lebanese business community—derogatorily referred to by officials as the "one percent."
No criminal charges have been laid against any of the three detainees. A court hearing is scheduled for July 27, 2026. State-owned Caribbean Airlines has since removed Blue Waters products from its flights.
• Dominic Hadeed (52), Genevieve Hadeed (42), and Star Sabga arrested in late June 2026 under Emergency Powers Regulations • Preventive Detention Orders signed by Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander • Search warrants issued June 24, 2026, signed by High Court Master Valena Guerra Abraham • Allegations include conspiracy to assassinate PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar, the Attorney General, and other senior officials • Dominic held at Remand Prison, Golden Grove; Genevieve and Sabga at Women's Prison, Golden Grove • Court appeal filed July 7, 2026; hearing scheduled for July 27, 2026 • No criminal charges have been laid against any of the three detainees • Caribbean Airlines removed Blue Waters products from its flights following the detentions
The Impact
The case has significant implications for civil liberties, the rule of law, and business confidence across the Caribbean.
Emergency powers frameworks exist in several regional jurisdictions, and the use of Preventive Detention Orders against prominent private sector figures—without public evidence or criminal charges—sets a precedent that will be closely watched by regional governments, business communities, and human rights advocates alike.
The reported removal of Blue Waters products from Caribbean Airlines flights adds a commercial dimension to what is already a politically charged case.
"All three detainees have denied any wrongdoing, and their legal teams have maintained that the allegations are unsupported and that the detention orders are unlawful. Matters relating to the detention orders remain before the courts."
— Gazetted Detention Orders reporting, Trinidad and Tobago Guardian
Bottled Water Business Owner Appeals Detention in Trinidad By The Numbers
As of early June 2026, the Ministry of Homeland Security had issued **40 Preventive Detention Orders (PDOs)** under the Emergency Powers Regulations, 2026, targeting alleged gang and organized crime suspects across Trinidad and Tobago. This places the Hadeeds and Star Sabga among at least 40 people detained without charge under these emergency powers.
By mid‑2026, the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service reported **258 detention orders approved**, with **170 executed**, surpassing totals in previous emergency operations and indicating an intensified nationwide use of detention powers beyond the initial 40 PDOs highlighted by the Ministry of Homeland Security.
Trinidad and Tobago recorded **624 murders in 2024**, the highest number ever in a calendar year and only the second time homicides surpassed 600 (605 murders in 2022), forming a key part of the government’s justification for declaring a state of emergency and later introducing the 2026 Emergency Powers Regulations used to detain the Hadeeds.
The government declared a **three‑month state of emergency** on 30 December 2024 in response to escalating gang‑related violence with sophisticated firearms, creating the security context that led to the 2026 Emergency Powers Regulations and the Preventive Detention framework now being challenged by the Blue Waters owner.
In one mid‑March 2026 enforcement surge, **five men were placed under Preventive Detention Orders over a four‑day period** under the Emergency Powers Regulations, showing that PDOs were being applied rapidly and repeatedly in the months leading up to the Hadeeds’ June 2026 detention.
A later update reported **13 more detention orders** being issued under regulation 14 of the Emergency Powers Regulations, 2026, including one against a person already in custody, underscoring that the legal tool used against the Hadeeds was part of a broad and expanding detention campaign.
The detention of Blue Waters owner Dominic Hadeed and his relatives is occurring within a much wider security operation: at least 40 Preventive Detention Orders were publicly confirmed by early June 2026, and police later reported 258 detention orders approved and 170 executed under emergency powers.[1][3][5][6]
Trinidad and Tobago’s sharp escalation in violent crime—624 murders in 2024, a national record and an increase from 605 in 2022—directly underpins the government’s resort to a three‑month state of emergency and the 2026 Emergency Powers Regulations that now enable detention without charge.[4]
Legal instruments such as Regulation 14 PDOs, initially framed as tools against gangs and firearm‑related violence, are being applied in increasingly high‑profile and controversial cases, including the alleged conspiracy to assassinate Prime Minister Kamla Persad‑Bissessar, raising significant civil liberties and due‑process questions.[1][2][7][8][9]
The Pulse
Many views on social media, with many not accepting the ethnicity argument.
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When all else fails play the race card – Kevin Elliott on Facebook
Maybe, just maybe, they are being targeted because the TTPS has proof that they wanted to kill the Prime Minister... Natalie Jaikaran on Facebook
Vindictive, malicious behaviour by this pathetic GOVERNMENT - Rayne Luke on Facebook
All the way to the privy council - Samuel Simon on Facebook
Perspectives
The detainees are innocent and their detention is politically motivated: The Hadeeds and their legal team argue there is no evidence of any assassination plot and that their detention constitutes political retaliation against members of the Syrian-Lebanese 'one percent' community perceived as supporting the opposition. Genevieve Hadeed's affidavit describes a traumatic arrest and detention without interview or charge.
The state has lawful grounds for detention under emergency powers: Detention orders signed by Minister Alexander allege that intelligence links the three detainees to an ongoing conspiracy to assassinate senior government officials, that their financial means could facilitate violent criminal activity, and that preventive detention was necessary to disrupt the alleged plans and protect public safety.
The legal framework used raises serious due process concerns: Legal experts warn that evidence gathered under a state of emergency detention order may not be admissible in ordinary criminal proceedings, and that using PDOs to build a criminal case could constitute an abuse of process under Trinidad and Tobago law.
"Even if they charge these people they would have to be charged under the criminal law and it would seem any prosecution would be an abuse of process because you cannot use a SoE and a detention order to get evidence to prosecute someone under the ordinary criminal law."
— Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, Former Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago, via Trinidad and Tobago Sunday Guardian
C360 View
The detention of Dominic and Genevieve Hadeed and Star Sabga under Trinidad and Tobago's emergency powers framework deserves serious scrutiny — not because authorities lack the right to respond to credible security threats, but because the credibility of those threats has yet to be publicly demonstrated.
No criminal charges have been laid. The Director of Public Prosecutions, by multiple accounts, has not been formally consulted. The intelligence cited in the Preventive Detention Orders remains untested in open court. And the three detainees — one of them a 69-year-old woman — have now been held in prison for weeks.
The detentions come weeks after Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar publicly endorsed Attorney General John Jeremie's warning that no segment of society — including what officials called the "one percent" business elite — was beyond the law's reach. Whether that framing was a signal or a coincidence is now before the courts.
The Caribbean has seen emergency powers misused before. It has also seen what happens when governments begin to identify ethnic business communities as targets rather than citizens. Idi Amin's expulsion of Uganda's South Asian community in 1972 began not with deportation orders but with rhetoric — the language of economic exploitation, of a community too powerful for its size, too wealthy for the good of the nation. Trinidad is not Uganda. But the "one percent" language is worth examining honestly, before it hardens into something more dangerous.
If the state holds compelling evidence of an assassination plot, it must present it through proper legal channels. The July 27 hearing is a critical test. For the sake of Trinidad and Tobago's democratic institutions — and the confidence of the broader Caribbean business community — due process must not become a casualty of the state of emergency.
The Hadeeds' legal team argues that the "one percent" framing was a signal, not a coincidence. Their contention that they have been arrested because of their ethnicity is an idea that should make all those from the melting pot that is the Caribbean shudder.
Editor's note: For an opinion piece on the Hadeed story, please read the Lousy Calf column... Out of many, One percent
TruthScore
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