Six days after being released from a four-year prison stay, a 22-year-old cook and his accomplice were caught with high-powered pistols as they were robbing a La Romain supermarket on Thursday night.
With police patrols ramped up in the crime-riddled community, San Fernando CID’s Cpl Emrith and PC Blackman were on the scene within minutes of the gunmen storming into the Bamboo Supermarket along the Southern Main Road.
Two Glock 17 pistols equipped with extended magazines for automatic firing were recovered, bringing the total firearms seizure in the Southern Division to 118 for 2016. Last year’s total was 93.
Reports stated that the gunmen entered the supermarket around 8.20 pm as the owner, Chuanhan Chen, 40, was tending to customers. Aiming their guns at Chen, they ordered him to hand over the $862 in the cash register and four packets of cigarettes worth $120.
Emrith and Blackman, who were on patrol, were alerted to the robbery by a passerby.
After calling for back-up, the officers cautiously entered the supermarket and snuck up on the suspects, who dropped their pistols and ran.
But with nowhere to go and reinforcements from the Southern Division Task Force, Rapid Response Unit and the San Fernando Hotspot Unit outside, the suspects quickly surrendered. The cash and cigarettes were recovered along with the pistol, which was loaded with 34 rounds of ammunition.
Criminal traces of the suspects found that the cook had been remanded for the last four years at the Golden Grove Prison, Arouca, and was just released on bail. He was charged with three counts of armed robbery in 2012. His accomplice, also 22 and from La Romain, is before the court on firearms charges.
Noting that Emrith and Blackman faced a similar situation to the one that claimed the life of their colleague, PC Anson Benjamin, they were praised by ASP Rawle Ramdeo and Insp Don Gajadhar for going fearlessly to the aid of citizens.
Last April, Benjamin, 42, who was attached to the Ste Madeleine Police Station, was responding to a possible robbery at Chao Yong Supermarket in Cocoyea when he was shot. The owners reported seeing two men lurking at the back the building and Benjamin was shot in the head as he and a colleague entered the compound. The gunmen escaped into bushes and were never found. Benjamin died a few days later at hospital.
“This is the danger police face while on patrol daily and really, you have to put your mind in another zone when you’re dealing with a situation like this: two men, heavily armed in a supermarket. They were putting their lives at risk because they did not know what lane the gunmen were on and if they were watching as the officers opened the door of the supermarket,” Gajadhar said.