The police impersonators have struck again.
The latest incident pushed the number of homes the group is believed to have burglarized thus far, to six. It also suggests that the group is branching out.
According to Anthony Ferguson, Assistant Superintendent of the Royal Bahamas Police Force Central Detective Unit, some groups go from one area to the next, without a specific comfort zone.
“They are hitting different locations,” he said. “We have no leads at the moment. Our initial information is that they fled the scene in a red, Ford Escort vehicle.”
Police were unable to obtain a license plate number.
Previously, the men have targeted homes on Podoleo, Homestead, and Brougham streets and Kennedy Subdivision. And in earlier robberies there were only three culprits.
In this latest instance there were reportedly four men claiming to be police officers.
The latest robbery occurred around 4am Friday morning – less than 48 hours after the police announced to the media that members of the Royal Bahamas Police Force were on the hunt for the bandits who preyed on families in the over-the-hill community.
Four men claiming to be police officers approached a Sugar Hill Road residence in Fox Hill.
Police said the occupants – a family of three – heard the knock on the door. When asked to identify themselves, the men claimed they were police and forced there way inside. They were all wearing masks, according to police.
The criminals stole $1,200 from the occupants. Before leaving they shot a 33-year-old man twice in the left leg. He resided at the home with his four-year-old daughter and her mother.
Although this was the first shooting by the police impersonators, ASP Ferguson say it is still to early to tell if the criminals are becoming bolder and more violent as police are uncertain about the circumstances leading up to the shooting.
So far, all of the victims have only been able to provide the police with vague descriptions of the culprits alluding to their height and weight.
Police have said that plainclothes officers must carry official identification. If persons identifying themselves as officers do not have them in their possession, police say they should not be allowed into the home.
The warrant card has a picture I.D, which is signed by the Commissioner of Police. It shows the bearer’s name, their rank and their police number. The warrant card has the signature of the bearer.
By: Tosheena Robinson-Blair, The Bahama Journal
