Eight months after Chinese national Xing Xia was shot in her right eye at her family-owned CNA Supermarket, New Grant, bandits committed another violent robbery there yesterday. But quick work by Princes Town CID, who were involved in a shootout with the bandits, led to three of the suspects being captured.
According to reports, four men drove into the supermarket’s compound around 8.25 am in a silver Nissan Tiida. Two of the men were dressed in red and orange coveralls and hard helmets while another wore dark clothing, a bullet proof vest and a cap. Police said two of them were armed with guns and they all wore gloves.
They walked into the supermarket and on seeing the cashier, they began cuffing him on the face, busting his forehead. They bound his hands and feet with plastic straps before raiding the cash register of an undisclosed amount of money.
Closed circuit television footage from the supermarket showed the men leaving in the car, which had several pieces of paper stuck on it.
Police were called in and a search was launched. Involved were the Southern Division Rapid Response Unit, the National Security Operations Centre helicopter, Southern Division Task Force, Tableland and Moruga police.
A team of officers, including Sgt Ramlogan, Cpl Nanan, PC Lee Lum, PC Balgobin, PC Ramkissoon and PC Jackman, went into Saddiville, along Maingot Road, St Julien’s Village, where they saw four men standing near a silver Nissan Tiida.
As the officers approached, the men fired several shots and ran into a yard. The officers returned fire and chased the suspects, capturing two of them. The car had a different registration plate from what was captured in the video footage.
However, police found several pieces of paper which were used to cover the logo of a rental company and several dents on the front and rear bumpers. They said the registration plate they saw in the CCTV footage was false.
As the two suspects were being questioned at the Princes Town Police Station, a man walked into the Rio Claro Police Station and reported that he rented a car and sublet it to someone else. He said when he went to pick up the vehicle yesterday he heard several gunshots so he ran.
He was taken into custody for further questioning. As the search continued yesterday for the other suspects, police said, they already know their identities.
On January 30, two bandits, one armed with a gun and the other with a knife, went to rob the supermarket when they were involved in a shootout with a security officer.
Xia, 30, was at the cash register when she was shot in her eye. One of the suspects, a 20-year-old man from the area, was struck in the stomach and leg. After undergoing surgery at the San Fernando General Hospital, she returned to China.