The El Greco Hotel, just yards away from the Fort Charlotte Police Station on West Bay Street, was robbed by gunmen in broad daylight yesterday.
Details were sketchy up to press time yesterday but according to preliminary police reports, two gunmen entered the hotel around 1:30pm.
“The men held guns on the employees there and robbed them of an undetermined amount of cash before fleeing the hotel,” reported Superintendent Leon Bethell, who heads the Central Detective Unit.
“We have some information regarding this robbery that we are working with. We don’t want to say too much to alert the culprits but we are following some leads,” Bethell added.
Several employees were reportedly shaken up following the incident.
The Nassau Guardian attempted to contact the manager of the hotel, but calls were not returned up to press time.
This is the latest of many daytime robberies over the past month. During a news conference recently, after a spate of brazen daytime robberies, police revealed that the suspects are well organized career criminals who use high-powered weapons to hold up local businesses, in some cases in less than 90 seconds.
The findings are based on investigators’ analysis of a series of armed robberies that have occurred over the past month, according to Superintendent Stephen Dean, director of the National Crime Prevention Office.
He noted that an analysis of the crimes revealed that in a lot of the cases, the suspects are unemployed, repeat offenders who are on bail for serious crimes.
According to Dean, the analysis also shows that the suspects are executing well-planned crimes using stolen cars, high-powered weapons and a team. of two to three gunmen.
“We are noticing that once they enter the establishment they go straight for the cash,” said Dean. “So that tells us that these armed robbers have beep casing some of these businesses.
“They have been getting this information as to where the cash is stored. In some cases they know exactly when the deposits are being made.”
Some of those daytime robberies in recent weeks, included hold-ups at Bahamasair’s sales offices in Palmdale and Oakes Field, as well as the robbery of FirstCaribbean’s Sandyport branch.
All of those robberies ended with high-speed chases where the gunmen managed to escape police custody.
The spate of daytime robberies began days after police revealed that armed robberies were down for the second quarter of 2010.
Police statistics showed that from April to June, there were 25 percent fewer armed robberies committed compared to January to March 2010.
Dean insisted that it is imperative that business owners do all they can to implement the proper security measures, including installing security cameras and having monitored alarm systems on their properties.
By KRYSTEL ROLLE
Nassau Guardian Staff Reporter
