Chamber worried by criminal attacks on SMEs

PRESIDENT of the Greater San Fernando Chamber Kiran Singh said he is concerned that the majority of home invasions are being perpetrated against business owners in the SME sector.

His comments came after another small businessman’s home, in Tabaquite, was invaded over the weekend.

Singh said the SME is a most vulnerable sector, which at great sacrifice is equipping its business places with cameras and security.

But not all businesses can afford 24-hour security, he said, and while cameras are picking up the perpetrators, he questioned their usefulness, since the police are not catching the brazen criminals, who seem unperturbed by the cameras.

Around 9.25 pm last Saturday, three men confronted a businessman at his home, just off the Tabaquite Main Road.

The businessman was securing his premises when the men, two of them armed, accosted him. They forced him into his home, demanding cash and valuables, and beat him.

He was robbed of an undisclosed amount of cash he reportedly kept on the premises.

While making their getaway, the bandits crashed into a parked Nissan Tiida, but did not stop.

PC Ramdass and other police responded and found the getaway car in a teak field in Rio Claro. There was no sign of the cash or the thieves.

There has been a spike in home invasions in past weeks. In Aranguez, a family was beaten and robbed. Police shot one of the bandits and held others.

In Debe, the home invasion of a businessman, carried out by seven young men, was caught on video. It showed the men, some of whom hid in the trunk, used a car to gain entry into the house, which they burgled.

The attempted theft of a car resulted in the death of its owner, businessman Rishard Ali, at Chaguanas last week. No one has been held for Ali’s murder.

Businessmen, who feel they are under siege, have called for the urgent audit of firearm users' licences by the police commissioner so they can be armed to defend themselves.

In response to crime in the region, governments organised a two-day Caricom regional symposium on crime at the Hyatt Hotel, Port of Spain, on Monday and Tuesday to address crime as a public health issue and seek solutions to stem the tide.