(Trinidad Guardian) A second police officer has been detained in connection with the $400,000 robbery of a Chinese businessman in Claxton Bay two weeks ago.
The officer, who is on suspension after being charged with stealing $80,000 in goods from a business place in Tobago last year, was detained by police at his San Juan home on Wednesday.
His arrest came a little over a week after Special Reserve Police (SRP) officer Sean Joseph appeared in court on three charges related to the robbery.
Sources said yesterday the suspended officer was being detained at a police station in Port-of-Spain and was being interrogated by detectives of the Professional Standards Bureau in relation to the robbery.
The suspect had not been charged up to 6 pm yesterday but the T&T Guardian understands investigators were working hard to complete their investigation so he could be charged and possibly brought to court later today.
The robbery took place at the businessman Wei Hui Zhu’s home at Soledad Road, Claxton Bay, on November 11. CCTV footage of the incident, which was posted on social media websites following the robbery, clearly showed a group of five men arriving at Zhu’s home in vehicles, with the lead one being a marked police jeep.
The group is alleged to have entered Zhu’s home under the guise of executing a search warrant before robbing him and a relative of $406,000 in cash and two cellphones. Zhu was beaten by his attackers during the incident.
While Joseph was granted $250,000 bail for the charges, he remains in remand as he had not been able to access it up to late yesterday. In addition to the robbery charges, Joseph is facing an additional one for being in possession of 22 rounds of ammunition, which he allegedly handed over to investigators after being arrested at the San Juan sub-station days after the crime.
Investigations are continuing.
