The Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force has come in for commendation by a local businessman, whose supermarket suffered at the hands of burglars recently.

Roland Williams thanked the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) for their prompt reaction, after he reported that the supermarket {{more}}he manages, Specials’ Mart in Arnos Vale, had been ransacked and vandalized, and an undisclosed amount of money, equipment, food, snacks, and drinks taken, between the night of Sunday, October 12 and the next morning.

“We locked up here at 10 o’clock on Sunday night. We normally go until 10:30, but I was really tired, so I opted to go half an hour earlier and secured the place and went home,” Williams told SEARCHLIGHT on Tuesday, October 14.

“On my return on Monday at 7 o’clock, and it is a habit that when I open the front door, that my eyes will automatically go straight to the cash register, and then I noticed that that was missing.

“Things were ransacked and I looked at the other side and realised that the other cash register was also missing,” Williams added.

Williams said that he brought his observation to the attention of a police officer who was directing traffic not too far from the business place, and that officer instructed him to call the CID and the police at Calliaqua, which he did.

According to Williams, the first suspect, believed to be from Kingstown, was apprehended by members of the “Pole Yard” community, who called the police, when they realized what had taken place.

“He had a lot of money that day and was boasting about it; they were eating a lot of the stuff that was stolen; they were having a ball of a time the whole day, even distributing money.

The second suspect, a female who reportedly lives at Arnos Vale, was taken into custody, as SEARCHLIGHT conducted the interview with Williams, while the third bandit was apprehended on Wednesday, October 15.

Williams said that despite the quick response of the police and some persons in Arnos Vale’s “Pole Yard” community, he is doubtful that he would recover the majority of what was taken from the supermarket. The businessman expressed his bewilderment at the ingenuity used by the criminals in gaining entry to the building.

He said he believes that the thieves used a ladder to climb up to a bathroom window at the side of the building, then cut the burglar bars to get in. After removing all they could carry, they put the bar back in place.

Williams said that he intends to take greater precautions to ensure that the building is more secure, and called on other entrepreneurs to do likewise, since he believes that incidents similar to what happened to him will increase in the coming days.

“I am disappointed that persons would still steal from hard-working people in these times… (but) the Bible says that these days will get worse and worse. These guys are just bent on criminal activities.

“We have to continue to be vigilant. We, as businessmen, just have to take the necessary precautions, and can’t afford to take anything for granted.”

SEARCHLIGHT understands that Brandon Matthews of Paul’s Avenue and Sylvanus Porter of Campden Park were charged with the burglary, to which they pleaded not guilty. The men were offered bail in the sum of $12,000 and $11,000 respectively, and are expected to return to the Calliaqua Magistrate’s Court to have a date set for the matter to be heard.(JJ)