Police arrested two men and recovered some 17 cases of alcohol that were stolen by trickery from a supermarket on Thursday evening in Mayaro.
A TT Police Service media release said the owner of S&S Persad Supermarket, which is located along the Mayaro Main Road, reported to police that a man claiming to be a representative of an oil services company in Guayaguayare turned up at the business and purchased several cases of alcohol by cheque for the company’s Christmas dinner around 9 pm.
The alcohol was delivered to a location at New Grant, Princes Town, but supermarket employees were told the venue for the dinner had been changed. The release said the alcohol was loaded onto a flat-bed truck and driven away around 3 pm.
The supermarket owner reportedly became suspicious and held a conversation with the owners of the oil service company allegedly involved in the purchase before he made a report to the police.
Assistant Commissioner of Police Surajdeen Persad immediately notified Eastern Division ASP Bhojnarine Kanhai and a party of officers responded.
The bottles of champagne and scotch were later seized from a warehouse in Enterprise, Chaguanas. A 58-year-old owner of the warehouse and a 53-year-old truck driver from Laventille were held.
The release said due to the quick response by the police, most of the alcohol was recovered from the warehouse. However, the police are still searching for the man who initially made the purchase.