On Thursday night, a police chase and gun battle left Village Road residents stunned.
A Lexus sped down Fowler Street soon after 8pm. The car sped past Tribune reporter Chester Robards who was driving near the Esso Service Station. It was followed by a lone police car.
The chase continued to the bottom of Village Road when police shot out the front tire.
After that, shots were exchanged that destroyed the front and rear windshield of the Lexus.
It is thought that at least one suspect might have escaped.
Reports indicate that gunfire lasted about 30 seconds and included several types of guns.
-Tribune
The Bahamas is considering dropping the cost for airplanes to take off and land in an effort to lower the cost of travel.
Tourism Minister Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace said discussions are in their seventh month and include talks with airlines.
He said the changes would only happen if it meant a significant discount for travelers.
-Tribune
GRAND BAHAMA: Police found 250 kilograms (551 pounds) at the Freeport Container Port Thursday.
Police made the find in a shipping container that was said to contain coffee beans. The container was headed for Europe from Columbia.
- Guardian and Tribune
Click
here to read more at The Nassau Guardian's website
ANDROS: Police confiscated more than 100 pounds of marijuana after a drug bust Wednesday night.
According to police reports, officers acting on a tip stopped to search a car in fresh Creek around 8pm.
After finding four sacks, each with four brown, taped packages of marijuana, police arrested a 31-year-old man and a 27-year-old man.
The men are expected to be charged in Nassau.
- Guardian and Tribune
Click
here to read more at The Nassau Guardian's website
$82,000 in Sears Hill HomePolice questioned a 40-year-old Canadian man after agents from the Drug Enforcement Unit found $82,000 in a Sears Hill residence on Wednesday.
- Guardian and Tribune
Hidden Cocaine on Poinciana Drive
DEU agents found a bag with 200 packets of cocaine hidden in a vacant lot.
Around 2pm on Tuesday, February 3rd, officers discovered the packets under a rock in a lot off Poinciana Drive.
-Guardian
1 pound of marijuana at Ida Street
Agents found a pound of marijuana in the Ida Street area around 4pm on Wednesday.
Police were patrolling when they found a plastic bag with the drugs.
-Guardian
Click
here to read more at The Nassau Guardian's website
A jury of nine failed to reach a verdict in the rape trial of Hubert Rolle.
Rolle is accused of using his finger to penetrate a 10-year-old girl on three occasions in 2003.
He told the court the victim’s mother was taking revenge on him because he would not give her $500 for an abortion.
The girl, now 16, told the court that Rolle had given her $1 after one of the attacks. During his testimony, Rolle said, “I never gave her anything when I bother with her”.
Prosecutor Eucal Bonaby said by saying this, Rolle had accidentally confessed.
-Guardian
There are 39 police officers on half pay because they have been charged with serious crimes.
On Wednesday, National Security Minister told the House of Assembly that officers ranging from constable to sergeant had been charged with crimes including murder, rape, bribery, drug offenses and stealing.
Read the entire story
here at the Bahamas B2B website.
-Guardian
William Martinez was fined $75,000 for 39 counts of fraud, including conning the Atlantis Resort out of $44,500 and buying $2,300 in goods from Gucci.
Martinez was charged along with two others, Imran Khan and Carlos Plaza. All three are from New York and in their early 20s.
Khan was charged with illegally receiving $14,381 from Atlantis and Khan for receiving $7,660.
Prosecutor Don Banniter said $30,721 had been seized from the men and that $13,779 was still unaccounted for.
Martinez was fined $75,000 or 5 years in jail; the other two were fined $25,000 or two years of prison time.
The judge ordered the trio to be deported at their own expense once the fines were paid.
-Guardian and Tribune
Bahamians who hired Haitians illegally may find themselves in trouble according to Immigration Director Jack Thompson.
182 Haitians were arrested in settlements in Eleuthera on Wednesday morning and taken to the Carmichael Road Detention Center.
A similar operation led to the arrest of 193 Haitians in 2006, however 179 of those captured were later released after it was found that they had been illegally apprehended.
Thompson said he was not sure how many, if any, would need to be returned, but that he was satisfied that Wednesday’s arrests were legal.
Thompson said “. . . the point is we are doing our work. And everyone in the county is going to know now that, as far as this business of illegals in and about and parading around like it’s nobody’s business, that has come to an end. That is the point. That is the message.
Thompson also said that anyone who employed persons who were arrested this week could find themselves in trouble with the law.
-Guardian
The country’s murder rate is four times the international standard, according to a report tabled by National Security Minister Tommy Turnquest.
Turnquest said international standards expect a murder rate of 5 per 100,000. In The Bahamas that number is 22 per 100,000, he said.
The crime statistics for 2007-2008, as gathered by the Police Research and Planning unit, were presented in the House of Assembly Wednesday.
Police are solving more cases in every area except murder according to the report. Solved, as defined by the police, means that a suspect has been charged and brought before a court.
In the last year there were less reports of:
- Murder (↓8%)
- Attempted murder (↓14%)
- Manslaughter (↓25%)
- Rape (↓16%)
- Unlawful sexual intercourse (↓18%)
- Armed robbery (↓5%)
Not everything went down in 2008, however:
- Attempted Robbery (↑70%)
- Robbery (↑29%)
- Attempted rape (↑5%)
-Guardian and Tribune
Henley Claridge, 21, and Teiko Burrows, 22, were sentenced to 12 and 11 years in jail after they were convicted of house-breaking and stealing.
The pair were convicted of breaking into four homes between December 16, 2008 and January 29 of this year.
-Tribune
Diranso Cates
Bahamian Diranso Cates has been charged with armed carjacking by West Palm Beach Police.
Police allege that Cates, 20, robbed Sean Goudreau, also 20, of his motorcycle at the Northwood University campus in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Full story from the Palm Beach Post
here-Tribune
Americans Alexander Rust, 24 and Vanessa Palm, 23, appeared in court Wednesday.
The pair are suspected of harvesting under-sized conch and killing and eating a critically endangered species.
The Wild Animal Protection Act imposes a fine of $300 and a six-month jail term for possession of an iguana. Violation of the Fisheries Resources act can lead to a $5,000 fine and year in prison.
The pair are expected to return to court on Tuesday, February 10.
-Tribune
Anthony Williams, 53 told a judge that he stole five chocolate bars from a Super Value food store because he has a drug problem.
Magistrate Derence Rolle-Davis ordered Williams to attend drug counseling. Davis told Williams that if he failed to complete the program, he would be jailed for three months.
-Guardian
New Police laws will limit the term of Police Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner and establish a complaints staff.
National Security Minister Tommy Turnquest said under the current system it is possible for the police chief and his deputy to serve terms of 15-20 years, which is too “open-ended”. With fixed positions, young officers will have a chance at the top spot, he said.
If the law is passed, officers will be required to retire after 40 years of at the age of sixty, whichever comes first.
-Guardian and Tribune
Former Attorney General Alfred Sears questioned the government’s plan to make it easier to fire the police commissioner.
In debate over legislation which may become the Police Force Act 2009, Sears said the reason laws protect the job of commissioner and his deputy is to make sure their decisions are not made for political reasons.
Also speaking on the proposed law, Cynthia Pratt, formerly Minister of National Security, asked the government to reconsider a provision enacted while she was in power. The provision ensured that heads of law enforcement met regularly for discussion.
Pratt, who supported the bill for the most part, also expressed concern about the removal of the position of district constable.
-Guardian and Tribune
A female motorcycle rider was badly injured after a collision with a truck Wednesday.
The woman, 24, was driving a 650 Honda trail-bike along Robinson Road when she collided with a 1996 Ford truck.
Police don’t think she was wearing a helmet at the time of the crash.
The woman was listed as ‘seriously ill’ as of Wednesday.
-Tribune
If you are thinking of buying ice cream this Saturday (February 7) you should stop at Dairy Queen and get a blizzard.
That’s because 50% of all blizzard sales and coupon sales will go to an organization called
Nicole’s Butterfly Kisses, which helps children with cancer.
-Tribune
Persons with disabilities should register with the Department of Social Services to ensure their needs are taken seriously.
Iris Adderley, consultant to the Disability Affairs Division at Social Services, said the more the government knows about the disabled community, the more that will be done.
By giving information to The National Registry, which is a database of the number of disabled Bahamians, there is a greater chance of better sidewalks, health care, schools and support services, Adderley said.
-Tribune
The Bahamas National Trust has changed its events policy to stop all private functions by 9pm.
In the last week, at least two letters appeared in local papers from people living near the Trust and losing sleep to loud noise from functions held there.
A letter from the BNT, also as a letter to the paper, said the organization has rented the area for weddings, receptions and dinner parties as a way to raise money.
On average, the Trust said about three private functions are held there per month.
The Trust said it intends to strictly enforce its new 9pm policy, although BNT functions may continue as late as midnight.
-Guardian
Assistant Commissioner Hulan Hanna said police would not be be taking it easy on young people who break the law.
Speaking at the second annual National Youth Forum Against Crime and Violence, Hanna said
“I want to make that clear. We believe there are certain offenses that, when young people commit those offenses, they need to face the music. They should understand the gravity of what they’ve done.”
-Guardian
The Bahamas Telecommunications Company on John F Kennedy Drive is open for business once again.
-Guardian
The Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources'
Fish and Farm store on Potters Cay will open from 7.30am – 3.30pm as of February 16th due to overwhelming public demand.
-Guardian
Thine is the Kingdom, a book by Garth Buckner, is back in stores.
The novel, which describes life in The Bahamas at its best and its not-so-great, sold out in nine days when it debuted in Bahamian book shops.
Buckner, a London-born Bahamian citizen, first came to The Bahamas in 1977 at the age of six. He now works at Sandyport and serves on the board of the Bahamas Telecommunications Company.
Read more of the story
here at
www.bahamapundit.com
-Tribune and
www.bahamapundit.com
