Jewel thieves nabbed

Among those arrested were a 24-year-old woman and four men aged 16, 17, 19, 24 from Couva; Damarie Hill in Guaico; Freeport and Claxton Bay. Officers also recovered a quantity of jewelry from the homes of the suspects. The exercise was spearheaded by Inspector Ken Lutchman under the supervision of Assistant Commissioner of Police Surujdeen Persad and Senior Superintendent John Trim.

According to reports, on May 7, three men entered Rahaman’s Jewelry store at 11 am, and robbed proprietor Shaira Rahaman of $71,000 in jewelry.

The men were obstructed from removing additional jewelry because of the intervention of a 12-year-old boy who saw the robbery in progress and alerted officers of the nearby police station.

When officers responded the suspects escaped in a silver-coloured Mazda 323.

Following the robbery, Inspector Lutchman — a detective of over 20 years experience — carried out extensive enquiries.

He led a team of officers to Central Trinidad where five suspects were detained and some of the sto- len jewelry seized. The five were taken to the Sangre Grande Police Station where they are expected to be placed on Identification Parade.

Rahaman later praised the officers for their diligence which led to the arrests.

Other officers also played a major role in the operation and they include Sgt Christopher Fuentes, Cpl Randolph Castillo, Cpl Shaied Khan, PCs Amit Samuel, Ryan Sookdeo, Dion Hernandez, Ashook Mootilal, WPCs Kinda Clark, Moses, Gonzales, Stephens, Charles and others of the Crime Suppression Unit.

Yesterday, ACP Persad commended the officers saying, “they are an example, all of these officers, of what diligent, committed and professional police work can achieve. I commend my hard working Inspector (Crime) Ken Lutchman and his team. They were relentless in their pursuit of these bandits and this sends a message...

the police will not tolerate crime in the Division.” Head of Eastern Division, Snr Supt John Trim also echoed ACP Persad saying that his officers worked day and night to crack the case. “They even went out of the division to pursuit of evidence which led to arrests and recovery of the stolen items. I commend them for their work,” Trim said.