The Daily Herald St. Maarten
Shocking
The killing of a local Indian merchant in Cole Bay Tuesday evening and the assault on another Indian family in Belair not too long afterward sent shockwaves through the community. In addition, the same article in Wednesday?s paper also mentioned another violent armed robbery in Cay Hill.
At the request of the Indian Merchants Association (IMA), most businesses on both Front and Back Streets closed for an hour yesterday afternoon out of solidarity and to protest against crime and the lack of public safety. It?s not the first time the issue has come up and stopgap measures such as assistance from Cura?ao police during the busy period were welcomed, but the long-lasting effect is limited because of their temporary nature.
What is perhaps most disturbing in Tuesday?s incidents is that in both cases the victims were not robbed, even though one was killed and several injured. It begs the question why the criminals did what they did. Even both cars they took had to be ditched.
The answer may take time and perhaps never come, but if criminals start shooting people just to get their vehicles something is seriously wrong, especially as it is common knowledge that stolen cars can be recognised, traced and therefore not used on the public road for too long.
Rather unsettling was the report in the same Wednesday paper that a gun shop in Marigot had been robbed two weeks ago. The article said the thieves had taken only knives, ammunition and two ?small? arms ? handguns which the Gendarmes don?t believe were used in any recent hold-ups, but the fact remains that there are now more weapons in the hands of criminals.
The fact that firearms are sold on the French side, although with legal restrictions and strict regulations, has long been a concern of authorities on the Dutch side. On the other hand, with the lack of frequent and effective control at particularly Great Bay Harbour and the many inlets and beaches on the island, stopping more and more illegal weapons from coming in is a tall order.
What is important also in this case is effective cooperation between law enforcement officials on both sides of the open border. That?s why it was disconcerting when French-side authorities, in announcing a recent string of previously unreported armed robberies, said they had exchanged information, but not collaborated with their Dutch-side counterparts on these cases, even though there were clear indications of border-crossing aspects. A Gendarmerie official now has been assigned (see Tuesday paper) to ?liaise? daily with the Dutch-side police. Hopefully, this intensified cooperation will yield results soon by putting more of these unscrupulous criminals behind bars to make the streets of ?The Friendly Island? a little safer.