Gunmen dressed in secondary school uniforms held up and robbed a Penal jewelry store on Monday. Police said the suspects, one dressed in a Barrackpore secondary school uniform and two in Penal secondary school uniforms, made off with a large quantity of loot from the Royal Design Jewellery Store on the Penal Rock Road after their daring robbery.
However, investigators said arrests will be made soon since the men’s identities have been obtained from security footage obtained inside the store. Police said the suspects were not schoolboys, but were known criminals with several robbery and larceny convictions to their names. Reports said around 1.10 pm, the gunmen stormed into the store and announced a holdup. They then ordered the manager, 35-year-old Clara Baksh, to empty the jewelry into a bag.
After collecting the loot, the robbers ran out the store and escaped through a track. Police, led by PC Singh, responded and launched a search for the suspects. However, they were unsuccessful in capturing the men. Police believe one of the suspects may have been responsible for the wounding of a Penal labourer who was shot in the buttock later that day.
Police said around 7.55 pm, Christopher Meade, 25, of Fazal Avenue, Penal Rock Road, was told to run for his life after being robbed of $400 by a gunman. Meade told police he was walking along a track near his home when he was approached by the gunman. After he had run a few metres, the robber fired two shots. Meade was hit on the back of his upper left thigh by one of the bullets.
Meade hobbled to the Penal Police Station and police took him to the Siparia District Health Facility, where he was treated and later transferred to the San Fernando General Hospital. He remained in a stable condition up to yesterday. Cpl Khan is investigating.
