(Trinidad Guardian) – Travellers making reservations at Caribbean Airlines’ southern ticketing office were forced to lie on the floor on Wednesday, as bandits robbed them of cash, jewellery and cellphones.
Trinidad Guardian reporter, Radhica Sookraj, and cameraman, Ivan Toolsie, were among the 12 customers at the Carlton Centre, San Fernando office when the men entered around 1.20 p.m.
Toolsie’s sister, Margaret Gunness, and her husband, Alston, had gone to the airline to confirm a flight for Toronto, Sookraj said.
“A man walked up to me and said to ‘hand me your cellphone’ quietly,” she said. The man was armed with two knives.
Two men, who were pretending to be customers, then whipped out guns and demanded that the customers lie on the floor. Sookraj said she was robbed of a cellphone, while Toolsie handed over his wallet and a gold handband.
Gunness said: “I came from Toronto to attend a wedding and I came here to confirm my flight for tomorrow (today). I saw this well-dressed man standing next to me and did not know what was happening until I saw the locals lying on the floor. I love coming home and have never experienced something like this,” she said.
Gunness was robbed of a cellphone and a gold watch.
A customer, who was about to enter the office, spotted the gunman and slammed the glass door causing it to shatter, before he ran away.
Caribbean Airlines stated that the office will be closed until next week Monday.
