A 37-year-old Williamsville man suspected in the $95,000 robbery at the office of PNM Pointe-a-Pierre candidate, Neil Mohammed, was arrested on Wednesday night.
Describing the suspect as a “career criminal,” investigators said he was under surveillance since robbing a grill shop in Marabella two weeks ago. They also said he has several larceny matters before the court and has served a prison sentence for robbery.
Reports said around 8 pm, CID detectives Smith and Mohammed were on patrol at Harmony Hall Road, Gasparillo. They saw the suspect and arrested him.
He was taken to the Marabella Police Station where he was being questioned on the robberies, but no charges were laid by afternoon.
On Tuesday, workers of Fens of Marabella arrived at the administration section where they found that a filing cabinet had been prised open and cash and business documents missing. It was later found that the suspect entered the building by climbing onto the roof of a neighbouring property and broke through a window. The suspect also turned the CCTV cameras upwards to hide his identity but police were able to recover some evidence from the scene.
It was the second time in a few days that the business was broken into but nothing was stolen the first time.
Mohammed, who is a director at the family-owned business and whose office in located in the adminstration section, said that while he had no evidence to prove that it was politically motivated, he found it strange that the robbery happened as soon as he became a full-fledged PNM candidate.
He noted that on Nomination Day a newspaper carried a report that he was being sued when there was no court document to support the claim. He added that posters of PNM candidates were being vandalised.
However, Senior Supt of the Southern Division Irwin Hackshaw said the robbery did not appear to be politically motivated but rather a crime of opportunity.