Two suspected bandits were held by police yesterday afternoon shortly after a brazen robbery on Elite Mobile, a cellphone store on Parade Street, near police headquarters at Kingston.
Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum told Stabroek News yesterday that it was the swift action by Criminal Investigation Department (CID) ranks which led to the capture of the two suspected bandits. However, an accomplice escaped on foot.
Blanhum said that around 2:30pm there was an armed robbery at the cellphone store, during which a quantity of high end phones and at least one other that belonged to an employee were stolen.
A cellphone technician, who was in the store at the time of the robbery, told Stabroek News that he was on his computer when he heard a man requesting credit.
However, when he looked up he saw a gun was being pointed at him. He was ordered to lay face down along with another employer and a customer who were also in the building.
An accomplice, who was also armed with a gun, ventured into the building and locked the door. The men began grabbing cellphones and cases from the showcase. A quantity of cash was also carted off. The technician estimated the total loss to be around $3.5M.
As the men were leaving the building, the technician said that he and the other employee along with the customer started chasing them and the men began running.
“We run behind them all the way up to Duke Street but we gave up after a car came and collected them,” the technician recalled.
Blanhum stated that it appeared as though the robbers panicked, resulting in two fleeing in a car and the other escaping on foot.
Stabroek News was told that ranks of the CID Headquarters, Eve Leary were alerted by a loud noise. On looking out, they noticed a car in a nearby drain.
Blanhum informed that during their escape bid, the driver of the car crashed into the seawall and lost control of the vehicle, which turned turtle in the nearby trench.
He said that the two occupants disembarked and started running in an eastern direction. The police gave chase and later apprehended them.
During a search, Blanhum said, one of the men was found in possession of a 9mm pistol and two matching rounds along with a cell phone which was identified as the property of an employee of the store.
