Trinidad bandit shot dead during attempted robbery

Jagdeo Seecharan shows where bandits broke the showcase at Savi Classic Jewellery, Couva yesterday.
Jagdeo Seecharan shows where bandits broke the showcase at Savi Classic Jewellery, Couva yesterday.

(Trinidad Guardian) A day­light rob­bery was foiled when two ban­dits be­lieved to be in their ear­ly 20s from Long­denville and Rio Claro re­spec­tive­ly were shot by se­cu­ri­ty guards as they at­tempt­ed to rob Savi’s Clas­sic Jew­el­ry lo­cat­ed on the cor­ner of Noel Street and South­ern Main Road, Cou­va on Tues­day.

One of the ban­dits from Long­denville was fa­tal­ly shot in his up­per body and died at the store while the oth­er was rushed to the Cou­va Dis­trict Health Fa­cil­i­ty for treat­ment for bul­let wound to his low­er legs.

Jagdeo Seecha­ran, broth­er of the own­er, said af­ter open­ing the busi­ness around 10 am, two ban­dits en­tered the build­ing around 11 am.

One of the ban­dits point­ed a gun at the head of the work­er and broke open a glass case.

Seecha­ran said when Ram­s­ingh saw what was tak­ing place she ran in­to the of­fice.

Se­cu­ri­ty guards on du­ty be­came alert to what was tak­ing place and an ex­change of gun­fire took place.

Seecha­ran said de­spite the store be­ing a stone’s throw away from the po­lice sta­tion it has been bur­galarised three times in the re­cent past.

Ram­c­hand Ra­jbal-Maraj, the head of the Cou­va Point Lisas Cham­ber of Com­merce, said the pub­lic has lost faith in the po­lice.

He said that in the last sev­en days there had been a state of rob­beries in the Cou­va area and res­i­dents are run­ning scared.

Ra­jbal-Maraj said the po­lice sta­tion is ill-equipped to deal with the rapid­ly ex­pand­ing pop­u­la­tion in Cou­va.

Cou­va South MP Rudranath In­dars­ingh said he is still to see the joint po­lice and army pa­trols in Cou­va that were promised to him by the prime min­is­ter al­most three years ago.

In­dars­ingh said that in his opin­ion, the whole of Cou­va has be­come a hotspot and was de­mand­ing an­swers from the au­thor­i­ties as to how the gov­ern­ment is deal­ing with the bal­loon­ing crime prob­lem.

In­dars­ingh said the com­mis­sion­er of po­lice is card­ed to meet with stake­hold­ers next Wednes­day at the Cou­va South con­stituen­cy hall at 3.30 pm.