Police are going through CCTV Footages to try and identify the person or persons behind Wednesday night’s break-in at the popular “Hot Spot” supermarket on the Carenage.
THE NEW TODAY was told by owner, Andy Williams that he provided footage from cameras installed to provide security and protection for his business premises to the Royal Grenada Police Force (RGPF).
“We have cameras around so the police have the Footages to act on it,” he said.
Most of the customers who shop at Hot Spot fall into the lower and middle income bracket in the country due to its lower prices for goods than many other supermarkets operating on the island.
According to Williams, he was not sure if the break-in took place on Wednesday night but it was definitely done when outside was dark.
A group of officers from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Police Force met with Williams on Thursday within hours after the break-in was discovered.
Entry was gained into the supermarket from a door at the back of the building.
The small businessman denied reports circulating in some quarters that the robbers targeted the cash till and was able to get away with mainly money.
Williams said it was a regular robbery in which some items were stolen by the intruders.
“It’s a normal break-in,” he remarked.
The business owner could not make a definitive statement on what exactly was stolen from the supermarket but said it was “nothing of substance”.
Williams brushed aside suggestions that the persons behind the break-in might have done so to send a message to him in light of statement he made a few days earlier in a posting on social media hinting about corrupt practices at the state-owned Marketing & National Importing Board (MNIB) on the importation of sugar from neighbouring Trinidad and selling at high prices to local consumers.
“Nah man – I don’t think so,” he remarked, adding, “times are hard, things are tough and people might be trying something – you have to expect those kinds of things (robberies).”
Williams’ statement prompted some persons on the island to say that a middle man might be involved in the sugar importation and taking huge profits from the sale of the commodity on the local market.