A central businessman’s family was tied up and robbed of a large sum of money and valuables over the weekend.
While the family has been victims of crime in the past, this time, the ordeal was even more traumatic as the perpetrators were dressed as police officers.
Speaking with Guardian Media yesterday, Rajendra Maye, owner of the R Maye Hardware and Double Palm Guest House chains and Hanggers Extreme Restaurant and Bar, said around 4.40 pm on Saturday, he got a distress call from his daughter.
“She said, ‘Daddy, there’s police in front of the house’ but I told her they cannot be police and are bandits because if it was police, they would come to the hardware and notify me. I told her to lock the door and do not come out,” Maye recalled.
Within minutes, Maye said the four-armed men jumped the fence, broke down the door and gained access to their Chase Village, Chaguanas home.
“When they get inside, they tied up my wife and my daughter’s boyfriend and they took my daughter at gunpoint, asking her where the money was. She cooperated with them,” he continued.
The bandits took a large sum of money and jewellery. Just as the men were about to escape, Maye said one of his trucks pulled up and blocked their van.
“They couldn’t drive out with his vehicle, so they eventually jumped out with the money, come out on the road and hold up another vehicle they used to escape” Maye said.
Maye believes there was enough time for police to capture the men.
“We made a call to 999 while they were in front of the gate because they (bandits) did not jump the wall as yet. We then made a call to Chaguanas Police, who said they will notify Freeport Police. We call Freeport and twice they hang up the phone,” he claimed.
According to Maye, it took the men more than 20 minutes to commit the act and the police were still not on the scene.
Maye said he was deeply concerned that criminals are now using law enforcement uniforms to deceive citizens.
“It is not the first time police uniform is being used to do illegal activities. How will you know who is a real police and who is a fake police?” Maye questioned.
Responding to questions by Guardian Media on the incident yesterday, acting Police Commissioner McDonald Jacob said he was “distressed” and “disgusted” that criminals are trying to impersonate police. He confirmed this was the fourth incident in recent weeks in which criminals used what appeared to be police uniforms. He said evidence suggests there is a particular gang doing this.
“We have, in fact, launched an investigation since about a week now in relation to that, similar incidents that have occurred and we have reached somewhere with the leads and we are hoping that we can apprehend these persons who are involved in these activities,” Jacob said.
“We are organising a meeting with our suppliers, who supply the police uniform—the tactical police uniform—and the patches that are normally used by the police, like whereby when you see the patch police, you know that can be actually placed on the back of these clothing. We also have to have a meeting with the supplemental police, the state police because similarly, the state police also source uniforms from these suppliers. There must be some rules in relation to how persons acquire these uniforms.”
He added, “I mentioned last week that our intent is to move away from a lot of these blue uniforms that you are seeing and go back to the traditional blue and grey uniform. We will have specialised teams using it and we will look at how can we do something so that persons can be able to identify the police officers.”
Jacob reminded the public that police officers are required to have their badges on display at all times and urged citizens to not disobey the instructions of any bonafide officers.