kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt
President of the San Fernando Business Association Daphne Bartlett is calling for the return of joint police and army patrols in the southern city as businesses are being targeted by organised robbery gangs.
Speaking after National Lotteries Control Board operator Harripersad Samaroo, 50, was beaten in a daylight robbery along the busy High Street on Monday, Bartlett said bandits were staking out victims and alerting their accomplices when to strike.
She said there had been an increase of robberies and violence against business people in the city, noting that a female store clerk was robbed with a toy gun on Saturday.
"There are a lot of people who hang around on the streets and they give information to the bandits to help them along. This is why we usually like to say 'clear the streets' because leaving these people here leads to crime. There was a time on Mon Chagrin Street that as soon as you head down to the hairdresser and around there, you would be robbed of your jewellery.
"When the police eventually caught up with them, it was one guy on a cellphone giving directions and telling the bandits when to come. The bandits would just pull off your jewellery and run. It is well orchestrated. These things just don't happen by vaps," Bartlett said.
In recent weeks Smith and Robertson Co Ltd and Bike Inn in Marabella were also robbed.
Businessman
left bleeding
On Monday, Samaroo, of La Romaine, left his NLCB booth at Asraph Mall, corner of High Street and Mon Chagrin Street, to deposit money at a bank around 9.20 am. A man wearing a yellow coverall suddenly cuffed him on the forehead and tried to grab the bag of money. Both men began to scuffle in the street causing the bag to burst and some of the money fell on the road.
Vendors, pedestrians and store workers looked on helplessly until a security guard from a nearby store went to help. The bandit ran off along Penitence Street with $400. An eyewitness said the bandit pulled out a gun, causing the guard to retreat.
He then stopped in front of Ritz Plaza where he took off his coverall and shoes and ran to an awaiting gold Nissan Almera, which pulled off before he could jump in. Police said the man, who had a Guyanese accent, ran further along the street and escaped. Investigators have been able to get CCTV footage, which they hope will identify the suspect. The victim was taken to hospital where he received stitches to a wound on his forehead.