By Joey Bartlett
A wave of robberies, shootings and break-ins kept police busy across Trinidad and Tobago, with criminals targeting homes, businesses and security officers in incidents stretching from Tunapuna to Mayaro and Tobago.
Among the most brazen incidents was a daylight home invasion in Tunapuna on May 7, where a 52-year-old shop owner was forced to flee into her home after two suspects posing as customers stormed her business.
Police said the woman was alone at her shop on Centenary Street around 11.08 am on Thursday when a woman wearing a grey hijab and a man dressed in blue jeans, a black jersey and a white hat entered, pretending to be customers.
Investigators said the man began shaking the shop gate violently, forcing it open. The shop owner tried to close the gate but injured her left index finger during the struggle.
Frightened, she ran into her adjoining home and locked herself inside while the suspect ransacked the shop.
The intruders escaped with a lime green Samsung A54 cell phone valued at $2,500, $300 in cash and a quantity of cigarettes before fleeing.
Hours later in St James, a 40-year-old man from Aranguez was robbed at gunpoint while at Syzygy Assisted Living Ltd on Mathura Street.
The victim told police he was approached around 7.20 pm by a slim, dark-skinned man wearing a white T-shirt and blue short pants with his face covered.
The armed suspect robbed him of $5,600 before running north along Mathura Street.
Meanwhile, in Claxton Bay, a scrap iron dealer narrowly escaped serious injury after a gunman opened fire outside his home on Lodge Road.
The victim was sitting in his driveway around 8.30 pm when a man riding a bicycle approached him, pointed a gun and shot at him. The victim told police he saw flashes and heard several explosions. He then felt a burning sensation in his right hand.
He ran, called the police, and was later treated at the San Fernando General Hospital.
In the south-eastern district of Mayaro, four cutlass-wielding bandits tied up a security officer during a late-night robbery at Southern Maintenance Company Ltd in Guayaguayare.
The 31-year-old victim told police he was alone on duty around 11 pm on May 6 when a man entered the guard booth, announced a robbery and grabbed him. Three other men then entered.
The assailants tie the officer up with tie straps and steal $83 from him and a white Mitsubishi five-tonne truck belonging to the company. The bandits also loaded about 800 feet of copper cables valued at $70,000 on the truck before escaping.
The stolen vehicle is valued at $350,000 and was later recovered along Vesprey Road, Guayaguayare.
In Rio Claro, a man was assaulted and robbed of his cellphone by a man he knew. The victim told police he was sitting along Guayaguayare Road around 9.50 pm on Thursday.
He was using his Samsung A06 cell phone when the man he knew punched him in the eye and stole the device. The victim also sought medical attention and reported the matter.
In Tobago, officers are probing an attempted break-in at G’s Lounge in Crown Point.
The business owner said she was awakened around 3.22 am on Thursday by loud noises outside her business at Stumpy By-Pass.
When officers arrived, they found part of a concrete plywood board on the western side of the building had been broken, suggesting someone had attempted to gain entry.
Investigations into all matters are ongoing.
