Woodbrook residents say they have recently been besieged by an uprise in burglaries and robberies in the community. The complaints were sparked yesterday in the wake of the latest incident, in which three armed men robbed Bhagan’s Drugs on the busy Tragarete Road, on Thursday. The pharmacy is owned by Dr Carol Bhagan-Khan, wife of Health Minister Fuad Khan.
Police said at around 8 pm on Thursday three men walked into the pharmacy. One approached the dispensary, where the manager and the pharmacist were assisting a customer, and enquired about a cough medicine for children. But even before he got an answer to his question, he and his two accomplices forced the two women into a back room while threatening the cashier and other customers with their weapons.
The men then raided the cash register, removing all the cash, and ransacked the offices also located in the pharmacy, before making their escape. Police were called in and the National Security helicopter was also called in to assist in their hunt for the men. Police said they believed the men were hiding in the yards of houses between Colville and Gatacre Streets. But they soon got tip-offs that the suspects had split up and used back streets to evade them. The police eventually held one of the suspects.
Speaking about the ordeal after giving information to the police, the visibly shaken pharmacy manager said she was still frightened. She declined to give her name and said the men threatened to shoot her several times during the robbery. “They kept asking me where the cameras were and one of them said that if they were seen on camera they would shoot me,” she said. She said after threatening staff and ransacking the offices, the men left with cash from the register and floats as she did not have access to the safe.
The pharmacy, which opens from 7 am and closes at 10 pm on weekdays, is next to a popular radio station and a bank. Tragarete Road is the main route taken by drivers between Port-of-Spain and St James. While police yesterday confirmed that the robbery was the latest in a series of crimes in the area, residents were still shocked at its boldness. “Recently, we keep hearing about people in the area getting robbed and break-ins, but we didn’t expect something so organised,” one resident said.
A group of residents, who stood observing the police from the corner of Buller and Gatacre Streets, also said the area had experienced an upsurge of thefts and burglaries. Police refused to comment on investigations yesterday.