2 in court for New City Mall robbery, 2 others held

Two men were expected to appear before a Port of Spain magistrate on Friday charged in connection to the recent robbery at New City Mall.

Another suspect was left wounded and hospitalised after the incident on August 26.

A police statement on Friday said Denzil Walcott of Duncan Street and Justin Cupid of Jackson Hill, East Dry River, both in Port of Spain, were charged with robbery with violence.

Under the supervision of Insp Ishmael, Sgt Ramlogan and acting Cpl Hosein, WPC Fletcher laid the charge.

The statement added that police arrested two other suspects on Thursday during the Port of Spain CID Operations team's anti-crime exercise Operation Blue Line.

Snr Supt Ramkhelawan and Supt Pariman co-ordinated the exercise, which was led by Cpls Rambaran and Kennedy and PCs Jawahir, Brown, O' Garro and Dover.

The police went to the Duncan Street "Plannings," where they arrested the two suspects.

The statement said at around 10.30 am on August 26, five men approached a store owner in the mall and grabbed a chain from his neck.

They struggled, and the bandits escaped. While going after the five men, the businessman saw his employee running towards him.

As the businessman approached his other booth, he saw about 20 men removing items from it and putting them in black garbage bags.

The businessman closed and locked the door with the men inside and alerted the mall security.

The men began kicking the door, which shattered and cut the owner. They ran out in different directions.

The businessman found two black garbage bags filled with items from his store, including clothing, shoes and hats.

Port of Spain municipal police shot and wounded one of the suspects when he attacked them with a cutlass. He is still at the Port of Spain General Hospital.

Investigations are ongoing.