For
some time now, Choiseul/Saltibus has been subject to a spate of "rather
mysterious" burglaries targeting gas stations, business places, credit
cooperatives and homes, among other places; and the police must have been at
their wit’s end trying to figure out what was happening and who the burglars
were.
After
many months, the good news is the police have finally made a major breakthrough and
have arrested and charged a young man (25-year old) from Cafeiere, who it is alleged,
was at the centre of most of those burglaries.
If
all the “theories” being bandied about have any merit, and if the police are
conscientious about bringing greater peace and security to the district, then they are in
a good position to put the pieces of the “puzzle” together and to make big busts
on crime in the coming weeks.
By
way of background, the young man in question has been identified by the police
as Scott Octave, a graduate of the Choiseul Secondary School. He is perhaps one
of the most unlikely persons that anyone would associate with the
spate of burglaries he has been charged with.
At
school, Scott was generally well-loved and was an “excessively” friendly
student who was perhaps every teacher’s pet. He was likeable, well-behaved, well-mannered,
polite and obedient and spoke in a “nice” and “sweet” tenor voice. Many of us
who knew and taught him would have never conceived that he was “capable” of those
crimes he has been charged with.
He
is being offered bail to the tune of $12,000 and it seems a remote possibility
that anyone will ever come forward to his rescue, except perhaps a
member/members of his underground network who may have been beneficiaries of
his adventures.
His
immediate family and neighbourhood have totally disowned him because of those
alleged acts he has been charged with.
Let
us take a look at the targets he is alleged to have burglarize (either
on his own or in league with his underground network):
(1)
Barbara
Perfect’s residence at Morne Portalese;
(2)
Nicholas
Service Station at La Fargue;
(3)
R
and Zee’s Service Station at Piaye;
(4)
Saltibus
Credit Union (Piaye Branch);
(5)
Belle
Vue Farmers’ Co-operative;
(6)
Builders’
Choice (La Fargue)
All
potentially lucrative targets!
I
met Barbara Perfect in May 2011 and we spoke briefly about her work in St.
Lucia. She is an American citizen who chose to make Choiseul her home. She is
doing admirable work in the St. Lucia
Hyperbaric Society by helping to make St. Lucia a “safe dive” destination. (You
can visit her organization’s website at http://www.sluhyperbaricchamber.org/ to
understand what she doing for our island)
According
to reliable sources, her home was well-wired with surveillance equipment but
the burglars were able to cut through her fence, disable the equipment,
enter her premises in the dead of night and made away with a quantity of jewelry
and other valuables. It must have been an extremely frightening experience for Barbara
and it’s nothing short of a miracle that she is still alive and suffered no
bodily harm. The burglars perhaps understood the potential implications of
their actions very well!
Both
Nicholas and R & Zees are alleged to have suffered heavy losses as a result
of their burglary.
Builders’
Choice was the last business place targeted. A quantity of equipment including
power tools was stolen and hidden in a Cafeiere gorge. The Police have reported
that they have recovered most of those stolen items.
The
magnitude of the loss suffered by the Saltibus Credit Union, Belle Vue Farmers’
Cooperative has so far not been disclosed.
Tangentially,
and in addition to the cases cited above, there are still a number of pending
cases involving auto theft and burglary of a Belle Vue home belonging to the
parents of a police officer! The POWERHOUSE
has been reliably informed that there may be sufficient actionable intelligence
on all of those cases and the police are closing in on them.
The
question weighing most heavily on the minds of Choiseulians is: Did Scott act
alone or did he act in league with a network? If he is part of a network of
criminals, then who are the members? Where are the stolen money and items he
made away with?
One
school of thought is he may have sold the items on the traditional Vincy black market;
But what about the stolen cheques belonging to the service stations? What did
he do with them?
Obviously,
these are leads worth pursuing by the police, if they are interested in constructing
“the whole picture” and neutralizing the criminal base.
The
situation in Choiseul presents an opportunity for the police, the marine unit
and the Regional Security System (RSS) to work together to completely neutralise
the dangerous “Vincy link” which provides an avenue for the criminals to market
their loot. Perhaps, it may also be a good time to request support from Interpol,
CIA and Scotland Yard.
As
part of the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI), the POWERHOUSE is aware
that the Americans have installed high-tech, state-of-the-art security
infrastructure in St. Lucia and the wider Caribbean to monitor and detect criminal
and potential terrorist activities across the islands. All we have to do is
pass on any actionable intelligence to them, especially now that their citizens
are targeted.
We
must seek to neutralize the perpetrators and the earlier, the better. Scott may
well be the tip of the iceberg!
Nowadays,
it appears that success resides with the Choiseul police. 
And
although the details are still rather nebulous, the story line is clearly emerging!
