Police arrest man during Christmas shopping in Chaguanas

THERE was drama in Chaguanas on Thursday, as police officers arrested one man in the heart of the borough during the height of Christmas shopping. According to police, the man was suspected of carrying a concealed firearm.

Around 1 pm, people who were doing Christmas shopping along the Chaguanas Main Road near Busy Corner were attracted by the sight of a white Mitsubishi van attempting to make a turn in the middle of the road but ended up getting lodged against a concrete barrier.

"You mashing up your vehicle" one man shouted at the two male occupants in the van.

They were barely visible through its heavily tinted windows and windscreen.

When the van eventually managed to get free from the barrier and was about to proceed in a westerly direction, it was intercepted by two uniformed police officers who were on foot patrol in the area.

After a conversation with one of the officers, the driver of the van sped off. The two officers followed the van as it entered the parking lot of Centre City Mall which was filled with people who were doing Christmas shopping at businesses in the mall and close to it.

One of the officers claimed that an occupant of the van attempted to draw a gun from under his clothes.

The two officers were joined by four other uniformed officers as they searched for the van and its occupants.

The van was found abandoned outside of a Republic Bank branch at the mall, with the keys still in the ignition.

The officers were overheard saying one of the men in the van was wearing a white shirt and the other was wearing a green shirt.

A short time later, two uniformed officers brought a man of African descent, who was wearing a white vest back towards the bank were other the other four uniformed police officers were waiting.

Four plainclothes officers later joined them.

One uniformed officer was heard asking the man, "So you is a bad man?"

The man replied, "I is an intelligent man."

He repeatedly asked the officers to take him to the police station, indicating that he wanted to walk there.

The second occupant of the van was not found.

Some passers-by stopped to watch what was happening as police officers escorted the man back to the parked van.

Newsday understands that the man was detained briefly at the Chagauans Police Station and later discharged, after he produced certain information.