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Crime

Monday Morning Attempted Bank Robbery foiled by victim, but we still haven’t heard from TCI Police

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Deandrea Hamilton

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#TurksandCaicos, May 27, 2022 – Four days on and there has still been no official report and no announcement of arrests in the case of a wild, wild, west alleged attempted armed robbery in the vicinity of CIBC FirstCaribbean Bank on Leeward Highway in Providenciales.

Officials have allowed speculation to lead the narrative of this disturbing crime which happened at the start of the work week and work day on Monday May 23.

We still don’t know at this hour whether it was an armed robbery ambush thwarted by an alert, quick thinking business man but we do know that the gun shots fired by alleged assailants were so powerful that people living in Kew Town heard the blast off of bullets.  Customers said it made the entire bank building shake.

Police officer Lauralee Jagroop confirmed that indeed shots were fired but nothing more; that was Monday morning.

The bank was barely opened, just minutes after 9am and already, it seems, an armed robbery was in train.

Residents who were stood outside the bank waiting to enter for service, ran inside out of fear at the frightening scene playing out just feet away from them.  That’s what we were told by a person inside when the shots rang out.

It is said a company cash deposit was on the way to the bank, when the carrier of it noticed a vehicle approaching head on in the wrong direction.  A voice note, widely circulated on social media explained the people in that threatening vehicle were masked and the man being targetted got suspicious and tried to get away.

He tried to dart past the suspicious vehicle and that’s when shots were recklessly fired after his car, shattering the rear windshield, the employee with the cash plowed through the median in a desperate attempt to escape but was somehow injured and turned up at hospital.

Our news organization was told he was admitted.  It was never reported that someone was injured, how severely and whether the individual was hit was a bullet.  We also enquired at the TCI Hospitals.

Residents had a variety of reactions after the news was posted.  A church pastor offered up a prayer for heavenly intervention and strategies to beat back the crime wave; another called for police to be stationed at all of the banks in Provo permanently, there are only four of them and another hoped for a thorough investigation so the culprits could be caught due to reliable, compelling evidence.

The bank was closed temporarily, the CIBC FirstCaribbean parking lot turned to a crime scene.

CIBC FirstCaribbean, like everyone else in the case offered no comment on the alleged crime to the general public and its customers.

Bahamas News

FBI and Bahamas looking into woman’s death  

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Dana Malcolm  

Staff Writer  

 

 

#TheBahamas, March 17, 2023 – The FBI is investigating a woman’s ‘suspicious’ death on a Carnival Cruise ship in February.  The unnamed woman and her husband boarded the Carnival Sunshine on February 27th, for a trip to the Bahamas, but she was dead before they arrived in the port in The Bahamas.

The FBI said Carnival’s team had administered life saving measures when the woman was reported unresponsive, but they were unsuccessful.  The body and the woman’s husband were released to the Bahamian authorities when the cruise arrived in the country.  

In a statement shared with US media houses, Carnival Cruises claimed the death has been a natural one.  The Nassau Guardian said a source told them the police findings had concurred with that assessment saying it was a “normal sudden death of a tourist who wasn’t feeling well.” 

The FBI was waiting for the cruise and when it got back to South Carolina on March 4th, they immediately boarded and began to investigate the room based on ‘evidence of a crime.’  The FBI also searched the couple’s car.   

No updates have been shared to contradict the currently established cause of death.   

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Caribbean News

Police Week Speech brings welcomed report for Police Marine Branch

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By Dana Malcolm 

Staff Writer 

 

 

#TurksandCaicos, March    , 2023 – All around growth for the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force and its initiatives is what Commissioner Trevor Botting is promising with the revelation of several personnel additions in his address to the nation during Police Week. 

The Marine Branch of the police in particular, is getting some much needed support.

“We are currently procuring new vessels for our Marine Branch, along with recruiting 12 marine officers for the team. The UK Government is funding a dedicated and highly technical aircraft for the Force to provide a critical capability to detect threats at sea,”  he explained.

The capabilities of the Marine Branch have been a sore spot for some residents because as the team in Providenciales repeatedly proves its efficiency and indispensability, residents in Grand Turk remain without the aid of their own branch in emergencies. It makes the announcement of expansion doubly significant.

More expansions are coming on land, with the promised UK backup, finally active, shared Botting.

“Whilst colleagues from the RBPF came to support us so magnificently, there have been other key additions to the ranks within the Force. We have welcomed a new Head of Crime, Superintendent Dean Holden and 17 investigators, funded by the UK Government to support our Serious Crime Team. Our staffing numbers have been bolstered by a number of highly trained and experienced police officers that have joined us from across the region, as well as 18 new recruits who have just left for their initial training in the Bahamas,” Botting said, also promising that promotions were underway for Assistant Superintendents, Inspectors and Sergeants.”

A drone unit has been launched, along with the expansion of the community policing project. 

“Working with our young people is critical in building safer communities. The assistance and encouragement we have received from the people we serve is truly appreciated,” he said, maintaining that the Force is ‘growing its capability fast– to meet the demands of the future in order to best protect communities.”

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Caribbean News

Human Smugglers targeting TCIs Uninhabited Islands, over 200 Illegals & Marijuana nearly made it ashore

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By Deandrea Hamilton

Editor

 

 

#TurksandCaicos, March 9, 2023 – Human Smuggles are finding new ways to exploit the vulnerabilities of TCI’s porous borders; a recent capture of over 200 illegal migrants exposes that increasingly boats are pointing their sterns toward the uninhabited or lesser inhabited islands; once again it was West Caicos.

Three children, 40 women and 162 men were found crammed in a vessel, spotted trying to make its way to the island, which sits close to the economic hub of the country, Providenciales.

Only days before, a Magnetic Media informant sent photographs of dozens of hurried foot prints in the sand on the beach in northwest Providenciales; those prints are often a sign that illegal entries are happening and an unknown number of people and other contraband are making it to shore, mostly from embattled Haiti.

These voyages are not unassisted.

In January, information to police allowed a commercial cargo vessel carrying irregular migrants from Haiti to be discovered; also at the start of the year, the Royal TCI Police charged one of its own with harbouring illegals.

In a statement on Wednesday night, Police say they were acting on information received.  Police also say they found packages of marijuana floating near the vessel.

“… at around 2.51 pm, the officers, via the Sea Protector vessel, intercepted a blue, 44 ft migrant vessel about 3.5miles south-west of the Bluff, Providenciales. The migrant vessel was found carrying a total of TWO HUNDRED AND TWO (202) illegal migrants…The illegal migrants were handed over to the Immigration Task Force.”

Video of that vessel showed a crush of people on the boat. You could hear the person filming the dangerously overloaded craft say to someone else, “I gave them some water, but I cannot stay.”

“Marine Branch Officers of the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force were dispatched yesterday (March 08th) afternoon following reports that a suspicious vessel was seen making its way towards West Caicos. Additionally, Marine Officers seized four packages containing what appeared to be cannabis, floating in close proximity to the illegal migrant vessel.  The suspected drugs were handed over to officers of Grace Bay Police Post.”

The RTCIPF confirmed this latest capture as the eighth interception for the year, the TCI now having arrested at least 1,053 illegal migrants since Christmas, based on a presentation made by Arlington ‘Chuck’ Musgrove, Minister of Immigration and Border Services.

On February 9th, during a national press conference, Minister Musgrove announced that since Christmas, 851 illegals had been stopped from disappearing into the Turks and Caicos.  This newest number adds to that figure.

Rodney Adams, Commissioner of Police (acting) in the statement offered thanks to the public for sharing the information, encouraging further partnerships.  Adams named the agencies involved in the operation.

“Through several agencies, including the RTCIPF Marine Branch, Maritime Operations Center and the Immigration Task Force working cohesively, this sloop was identified and intercepted, preventing over 200 irregular migrants from entering the TCI illegally.”

 

Photo Credit: RTCIPF

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