Wednesday, May 8, 2019
By RICARDO WELLS
Tribune Staff Reporter
rwells@tribunemedia.net
THREE men are in custody in connection with the recent smash and grab robbery at John Bull’s Baha Mar store.
Chief Superintendent Solomon Cash confirmed the arrests yesterday, telling The Tribune investigators are “making key steps toward closing” the matter.
He also confirmed that police are still seeking to identify a fourth “person of interest” in the case.
According to police, two men entered the store located near the resort’s western entrance around 3pm on Sunday, smashed several showcases and stole an assortment of watches and jewellery before fleeing the property on foot.
Initial reports suggested the men were unarmed, or at the very least not brandishing weapons.
There were no injuries reported by police.
When The Tribune visited the scene roughly two hours after the ordeal unfolded, security personnel declined comment and said any updates on the matter would come either from police or the resort’s public relations team.
Subsequently, Robert Sands, the resort’s senior vice president, in a brief statement on Sunday confirmed the incident, saying the matter was now a police investigation and that no further comment would come from the resort.
In the wake of the “brazen” ordeal, Tourism Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar suggested Baha Mar “rethink” its security plan.
“A situation created a crime of opportunity today, and two robbers took advantage of this lapse and perpetrated a brazen act. As it stands, the hotel will now have to rethink its security plan, as police look to bring this matter to a close,” Mr D’Aguilar said, when made aware of the incident.
“It breaks my heart that in pursuit of a short-term gain, these men directly jeopardised the economic impact this hotel has had on the lives of so many Bahamians. I Implore the community to work to identify these men and turn them over to the authorities.”
Neither police nor the resort have placed a value on the items stolen from the store.
Comments
rawbahamian says...
After the smash and grab robbery of Rolex watches from John Bull in town, you would think the owners would use bullet proof showcases for their high dollar stock, just a thought !
Posted 8 May 2019, 9:15 a.m. Suggest removal
spaceyG1971 says...
Bullet proof/Smash proof glass is not recommended. What happens when the robbers can't break it and it angers them? Staffs life is way more important that anything else.
Posted 8 May 2019, 9:24 a.m. Suggest removal
Well_mudda_take_sic says...
> “A situation created a crime of opportunity today, and two robbers took advantage of this lapse and perpetrated a brazen act. As it stands, the hotel will now have to rethink its security plan, as police look to bring this matter to a close,” Mr D’Aguilar said, when made aware of the incident.
I guess this 'hotel caused' situation, i.e. the lapse in hotel security, should have John Bull seeking to recover its loss from the managers of the hotel rather than its own insurers. Thanks to the constantly yapping little white-haired poodle, we now know that the hotel manager's insurers, and not John Bull's insurers, should be on the hook for most if not all of the losses attributable to this "brazen act". Yappity, yap, yap, yap.
Posted 8 May 2019, 9:19 a.m. Suggest removal
Well_mudda_take_sic says...
The owners of John Bull managed to get a lot of the best retail floor space in the Baha Mar development by partnering with the Wicked Witch of The West (Allyson Maynard-Gibson). John Bull's owners piggy-backed on the Wicked Witch's conflict of interest situation whereby the Christie-led PLP government was instrumental in causing the Izmirlian family to lose their $800+ billion equity stake in Baha Mar. Crooked Christie, the Wicked Witch and Baltron "Bag Man" Bethel facilitated the acquisition of Baha Mar by the dubious "Fook" Red China enterprise by heavily leaning on our court system.
Against this background, the robbery would seem to be fitting retribution of a kind for the Wicked Witch. Knowing her though, she will try sue the hotel operators and/or the Fook enterprise for somehow causing the losses attributable to the robbery if she has no success in recovering her share of the losses from John Bull's insurers. LMAO
Posted 9 May 2019, 8:35 a.m. Suggest removal
Log in to comment