Two new robberies in Sandy Ground

Two individuals wearing helmets held up the convenience store located before the Sandy Ground bridge coming from Marigot on Tuesday at around 7:30 pm. The one with a handgun threatened the employee while his accomplice was waiting on his scooter outside.

A few minutes later, they held up a second convenience store, located further down the route de Sandy Ground heading towards Nettle Bay. Afterwards, when they set off once again, they were almost hit by a car that came upon them. The one with the weapon had the reflex of shooting at the car. Several shots were fired but no one was injured. "However, the driver of the vehicle was very shocked", explained the gendarmerie captain, Emmanuel Maignan.

The total amount stolen in these two thefts comes to about 400 euros/dollars mixed together.

Some witnesses told the investigators that a third supermarket was also supposedly robbed but this has not been confirmed for the moment. Only the managers of the first two have filed a complaint.

That makes a total of four armed robberies committed in November. For several weeks, we have been witnessing an increase in armed robberies in convenience stores of which half of them, or five in all, have been solved.

On Wednesday morning, the two authors will appear before the Saint-Martin criminal court, one of whom is a repeat offender. He was released from prison three months ago. He had been sentenced for armed robbery.

The gendarmes have also arrested two other authors, a minor and an adult, who are involved in other crimes.

"We are witnessing an increase but we are very far from the levels that we had seen in 2014 or 2015", said Captain Maignan. "In 2016, forty-five armed robberies have been committed compared to one hundred and ten in 2015," he said.