Turks and Caicos, May 1st 2017: Police have arrested and charged a 35 year old Grand Turk man with four counts of robberies and a wounding offence.
The arrest comes days after Police Commissioner James Smith listed crime stats over the past year, detailing some 134 robberies in 2016/2017.
The man is said to be part of a team responsible for a number of offences in Providenciales, with several reports given in the past month leading to his arrest.
The charged man is said to have committed a spate of robberies against drivers, holding them at gun point, along with assaulting and battering the victims. Reports suggest that the robbery spree continued for four days straight.
Reports say some time on April 17th, he along with two other males pulled guns on a driver in Blue Hills, and robbed him of a large sum of cash, beating him about the body before running away. The second report is said to have occurred the next day, Tuesday April 18th, when a driver proceeded to give a man a ride in his car. Upon entering, the man is said to have pulled a gun on the driver, demanding money. The culprit once again escaped with a small sum of cash. Another similar report was made on Wednesday April 19th, when the victim said he was driving along Lower Bight Road, when two men stopped him, asking for a lift to Long Bay. One of the men then grabbed him by the neck and began searching him for valuables. A Samsung Galaxy phone and an undisclosed small amount of money were stolen. On Thursday April 20th, another driver is said to have picked up two men along the Leeward Highway. While driving along the Grace Bay road, in the vicinity of the Golf Club, one of the men pulled a knife on the driver, demanding his cell phone and cash. The men slashed the driver’s face, forcing him to be taken to the Chesire Hall Medical Centre where he was treated and discharged.
